Accelerate industrialization is mostly liable for
uncontrolled urbanization. After 1950 there has
been a continuous migration from the East to the
West, from rural areas to urban areas and from small
cities to larger ones (overcrowded, having difficulty
to adapt their infrastructures). Poor constructions
called "gecekondu" meaning "built
overnight", increase in the suburbs, and can
be found next to residential districts.
Istanbul is the largest
city with 12 million inhabitants. Ankara,
the capital, comes second with about 4.5millions.
They are followed by Izmir,
Adana,
Bursa, Gaziantep,
Konya....
With the concurrence of modern industrialization,
traditional craftmen is still florishing. The
bazaar, a traditional centre of merchants, traders
and artisans, is a typical place where shops and
workshops are bubbling over with activity.
People of modest conditions work as street hawkers
and vendors (selling "simit" breads,
corn, ayran…)
or do lots of small jobs.
In
the towns just like in the villages one can
still find the traditional " kahve"
(café), where people are sipping tea in traditional
small glasses.
The Narghile or
water pipe (which is a Middle Eastern type of pipe
to smoke tobacco) is smoked in "nargile
kahveleri", these traditional cafés where
smokers usually sip coffee
or tea (alcohol is not served) as they puff. One
of the oldest famous narghile café in İstanbul is
the Çorlulu Ali Paşa Medresesi located at Beyazıt.
Also the cafés located at Tophane which are very
lively at night.
These cafés are the remains of thousands that sprouted
after the first tobacco leaves arrived from America
in 1601. The Turks took to smoking with a passion,
and it became one of the main pastimes of the male
population . In 1633, outraged at the rapid spread
of this new vice, Sultan Murad IV even banned smoking
on pain of death. But this prohibition merely drove
smokers underground, and a few years later, officials
lifted it. The narghile used to be at the center
of Istanbul's social and political life. Offering
one to a guest became an important sign of trust,
and withholding it could be taken as a serious insult.
Later the advent of the cigarette changed the way
the Turks use tobacco. Today Turkish people no longer
have the time to sit and smoke a water-pipe. Skilled
craftsmen still make the traditional narghile which
are bought by tourists as souvenirs.
