On the Asian side of the Bosphorus many small rivers flow from the mainland. Mooring posts line the banks, and docks are shared among small commercial ferries and private boats. I was in the Beykoz neighborhood, far to the north, and it was early evening. The river banks were more empty than usual as many boats were out fishing, forming a dense pattern in the center of the channel. Other boats were visiting families and friends along the coast, or bringing people around the point to the open air market.

Our Uzbek friend, still naturally open and friendly after seven years in Istanbul, approached one man with "Greetings in the name of Allah" to ask if we could rest for a few minutes on his boat. The man looked up from his repair work and smiled through his cigarette smoke. The answer? "Of course, please come sit down, here I have cushions...." We stepped from the pier and sat on the polished wooden deck of a gently rocking boat, looking out into the open Bosphorus.

This estuary, this specific river, has just been opened to the public for swimming this year, after a major clean-up attempt from the municipality. It involved regulations against pipes that for decades had been pouring household and industrial waste into the water. The major pipes were rerouted to underground storage tanks, and fines introduced for anyone caught dumping. Then the river bottom was dredged and new sand brought in. Officially the area is clean and safe now, but on this particular evening (still 90 degrees F) there was no one swimming. Perhaps the actual quality of water here matters very little, for even if it improves drastically people still only approach the water with a boat deck underneath, or two oars touching, or the length of a fishing rod between. Many people still have the mentality of considering the seas primarily as a travelling lane and a place that will conveniently disappear trash; this ingrained attitude can be far more important than any truths about the water.

For instance....a supremely urban Turkish college student here, shocked to hear that I had eaten fish, told me that the heavy metal content may have ruined any chance for healthy children in my future. On the reverse side, a Turkish grandmother, hearing my same story, said its a great sign for my future husband and children that I know how to cook and to prepare food like a traditional family-oriented girl.

My point is that neither has any idea of the actual dangers that may or may not exist in the Bosphorus. True, years of dense shipping traffic, unfiltered sewage dumping, and runoff pollution into the Black Sea (read this interview with a Georgian scientist) have resulted in bacterial problems (nitrates and phosphates) and poisonous metals in the Bosphorus channel.
Also true, thousands of people in the region depend on fish for their meals and their livelihood. Diversity of fish species has declined drastically over the past few decades, and every year Turkish fishermen (across the whole country) contribute less and less to the international fish trade. There are fishing cooperation agreements spanning the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and the Istanbul municipality continues to launch awareness and pollution-free campaigns as minor solutions.

Policies change, and the water itself becomes both cleaner and more polluted over time; perhaps this constantly changing situation helps explain my observation: I feel that too often people's attitudes have no relation to actual events or the realities of their environment. Say the Bosphorus water is proven to contain E. coli (don't worry, it doesn't) --- a gazette may report it, some residents may read, perhaps a few tourists will refuse a fish restaurant. More of a reaction? Maybe nothing. Or say the installed filters work successfully and the levels of pollution continue dropping --- a local citizen's approach to the Bosphorus may not change at all.

I wonder, how important are revitalization and development schemes for a population whose perceptions (and behavior) seem to be completely independent of their immediate environment? People throw trash over the rail with the same breath they complain about catching fewer fish year after year.... and when reports come in that progress is made (an oil spill cleaned, debris removed, a treaty with Bulgaria signed) many people use that as an excuse to balance out their continued polluting behavior.

If not influenced by physical changes in their surroundings, is it historical traditions and childhood stories that guide people's actions? Of course biology says that a population survives only if it can adapt to a changing environment. The Turks claim one of the oldest civilations on earth, meaning they've adapted relatively successfully for a few millenia. Is this faith in historical heritage enough to sustain people when they ignore warning signs from their environment? I'm young and perhaps cynical, and I say that it's not enough.

But enough for now. I'll write next on a few views of Turkish historical heritage, with one from an eight-year-old named Damla (as in "drop of water...")

~~~alice