‘In war, truth is the first casualty.’ Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC)
‘Istanbul is a hall of mirrors where nothing is as it seems.' Elif Safak
‘Democracy is like a train, you get off once you reach the station.’ Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish President
The nation’s land is sacred. It cannot be left to fate.
He hardly recognised her this evening with silky black hair loosely falling against her pale shoulders, a scarf casually draped around her elegant neck. Her fragile body looked even more vulnerable in a sleeveless vest and skinny jeans. He balled his fists and a pulse beat visibly in the side of his neck. She lit a long slim cigarette poised between fine lips painted a shocking red. His breath quickened, his face felt red like her lips and smouldering hot like the cigarette.
The scrawny youth tucked in beside her on the park bench held her free hand in his. She pulled it away playfully, but let his fingers follow it to touch her hair. Allah askina, what did she think she was doing? Boys would be boys, but she should know better. She was an honest girl and what they were doing was sinful. Did she… he… they… have no modesty? The prophet, peace be upon him, said that modesty is part of faith. Did she have no faith?
The two of them had been sitting there for an hour more or less, ignoring the thousands of anti-government protesters milling about under the giant sycamore trees hanging over them. They had eyes only for each other. It made him sick to the stomach. To their left, a group of activists were gathering by a statue of Ataturk, planning some ungodly act of rebellion, whether it be to vandalize a government building or construct another barricade, they all needed to be stopped. Turkey needed to be saved from the evil of secularism, an imposition from the Western powers at the time when the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
He had become distracted, but then the politics of Turkey had a natural way of causing distraction, being so unstable and irrational. Culture wars had been going on here for decades and there was still no clear winner. That’s what the protests were about now really, but he hoped that good would triumph over evil and that the government would win. The President was a pious Muslim, a good man with a clear vision for Turkey. Islam is the submission to God, he often said in his speeches and this was the only future that made sense.
The Movement Description:
A routine assignment covering protests in Turkey turns deadly for American reporter Kate Roberts, when a young dissident is viciously murdered in Istanbul. As rioting grips the city, Kate’s camerawoman discovers she has an unexpected connection to the victim, and that there are forces who will stop at nothing to prevent them uncovering the truth.
