Here kedi, kedi . . . .

On my first visit to Istanbul in 2012, I couldn’t help but notice cats were everywhere —- in markets, under cafe tables, napping on dry goods, perched on rooftops. And not the sulking, skittish ones you shoo away from your trash cans at night, but healthy, robust, we-own-the-streets cats. I asked, and sure enough they are protected, fed and cared for by everyone. I never saw a hungry cat in my 5 visits to Turkey. You see dogs, too, but they’re less in number and currently in danger of being rounded up and put down.

One reason the cats (kedi in Turkish) have a fat and happy life is that they are protected in the predominant Muslim tradition. They are said to have prevented mice from destroying ancient Muslim libraries. Another, even better, legend has it that Muhammad once cut off his sleeve to avoid disturbing a cat sleeping on his robe when he had to rise for prayer. Food touched by cats is still considered halal.

Here's a napping kedi keeping a neighborhood bookstore mouse-free. 

One of my fellow employees who traveled with me wasn’t as taken by these freedom-loving felines. Too bad for her, I say. She literally turned her nose up and muttered, “ugh!” when I showed her one of the photos I’d made. I wonder how much more of Turkish customs and culture she missed out on by looking through her narrow glass.

As for me, the cats of Istanbul (and here in Ankara) were a door into a culture I knew very little about. I like this kedi in particular, perched before a ruined house high above the city.