![\"happy-valentine-s-day-sevgililer-gunu\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/happy-valentine-s-day-sevgililer-gunu.png\")
\u201cSevgililer g\u00fcn\u00fcm\u00fcz kutlu olsun!<\/em>\u201d Or Happy Valentine\u2019s Day\u201d in\u00a0Turkish.<\/p>\nOne wouldn\u2019t immediately associate Valentine\u2019s Day with the Turks, since it is generally viewed it as a Western holiday. But Lover\u2019s Day, as the Turks call it, has been popular here for many\u00a0years.<\/p>\n
As with Christmas season, when the streets of Istanbul sparkle with garlands of colored lights, Turks are captivated by the shiny accoutrements of Valentine\u2019s Day \u2013 flowers, boxes of candy, candlelit dinners . Also, Turks are very passionate people, and a rose delivered to the office of a pretty young woman is guaranteed to elicit a proud, happy smile from the recipient \u2014 not to mention misery and jealousy from all over her single co-workers. A woman wearing her sevgi\u2019s<\/em> gift also provides a subtle hint that would-be Romeos need to save their balcony speeches for someone\u00a0else.<\/p>\n On Thursday, as my driver \u00c7etin was taking me to an in-company lesson on the outskirts of Istanbul, our attention was caught by the sight of Romany gypsies weaving in and out of the mid-morning traffic. That in itself was nothing unusual \u2013 for the majority of the city\u2019s gypsy population earn their daily bread in the\u00a0streets.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a hard keep, for sure. As in Europe, gypsies here are generally very poor. In summer, when Istanbul is dizzy with torpid heat and humidity, the gypsies are out at the busy intersections hawking bottled water to drivers stuck in traffic. At Christmas time, with snow falling on the city, you will see them with handfuls of fresh holly gathered from who knows where. When sudden heavy rains arrive in spring, the gypsies will magically appear at the metro stops and street corners selling plastic umbrellas at one lira\u00a0apiece.<\/p>\n What made seeing them this past Thursday morning exceptional was the fact that the ever-opportunistic and resourceful gypsies, including men, the women in their colorful headscarves, and even children, were now out selling bundles of roses. As always, one had to admire their\u00a0timing.<\/p>\n \u00c7etin and I watched as one of the gypsy women approached a car that was waiting at the red light. She waved the bundle of roses under the driver\u2019s surly nose. The driver, a businessman, rolled up the window and brusquely waved the poor woman\u00a0off.<\/p>\n \u00c7etin laughed. \u201cHe\u2019s an angry man,\u201d he said, in Turkish. \u201cHe\u2019s angry because he doesn\u2019t have a girl to give flowers\u00a0to.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman went on to the next car. The light changed, and we continued on our way, passing more of the gypsies, watching one of the women score a sale to a family in a\u00a0sedan.<\/p>\n I asked \u00c7etin how much the gypsies charged for the roses. Probably 5 lira per rose, he said (about 3 U.S.\u00a0dollars).<\/p>\n We left the gypsies behind at the busy intersection and continued on our way. We passed a big, bright red sign wishing everyone \u201cSEVG\u0130L\u0130LER G\u00dcN\u00dcM\u00dcZ KUTLU\u00a0OLSUN.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00c7etin, who is Kurdish and from the far eastern part of Turkey, married when he was very young. He and his wife are expecting a\u00a0child.<\/p>\n For Valentine\u2019s Day, \u00c7etin bought her a necklace and a new headscarf. That evening they were planning to have dinner at home. All of the retaurants would be too crowded, all the tables booked in\u00a0advance.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what about you?\u201d \u00c7etin asked. \u201cHave you got a\u00a0sevgi?\u201d<\/p>\n I did not. \u0130n Turkish there is a saying: para yok, a\u015fk yok<\/em>. No money, no love. We had just got paid a couple days before, and my wallet was full. I joked to \u00c7etin, \u201cPara var, a\u015fk yok!<\/em>\u201d I had money, but no\u00a0love.<\/p>\n He laughed, repeating what I said\u00a0aloud.<\/p>\n \u201cWill you go to the pub?\u201d he\u00a0asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d I said. \u201cTonight my sevgi is\u00a0beer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJames,\u201d he said. \u201cAlways your sevgi is\u00a0beer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s cheaper,\u201d I\u00a0said.<\/p>\n You can probably see that I have never been especially sentimental about Valentine\u2019s Day. I remember being 21 and in the Navy. I bought my girl a bottle of Dom Perignon that cost 100 dollars. She hid the bottle in her closet for a week. By the time we opened it, the Dom had definitely lost his Perignon. I guess it was only poetic, for our relationship by then had also lost its\u00a0sparkle.<\/p>\n So, you may be wondering why then I would devote this letter to a day that has never really meant that much to me. I am wondering now if last week\u2019s letter about Sarai Sierra, the American woman who was killed here several weeks ago, had any bearing on my line of thought. Perhaps I was looking for something positive to write about, a way to get away from violence, horror and death, and to run, flee in the direction of life. That sounds melodramatic, forced, and so maybe it is: I don\u2019t\u00a0care.<\/p>\n Last week, when writing about Sarai, I wrote that one may get the impression that Istanbul is a very dangerous city. However, in the three years I have been here, I have found Turks, as well as the many Kurds who live here, to be on the whole very warm, generous and hospitable\u00a0people.<\/p>\n When I arrived at the company, my student Ahmet was waiting. My driver \u00c7etin had told me to wish Ahmet a Happy Valentine\u2019s Day, so I passed the wish on. \u201cThank you very much!\u201d Ahmet said, bowing to me and presumably to \u00c7etin as well. I asked if he and his wife had any plans for the evening. No, he said. They were planning on spending the evening at home. It was mid-week, and both of them had to work in the\u00a0morning.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Valentine\u2019s Day is really best for the young people,\u201d he said. He excused himself, and returned a moment later with a package. \u201cA gift for you and to share with all your teacher friends,\u201d he said. I opened it. Inside, there were tons of Chinese fortune cookies. It was part of a promotional campaign Ahmet\u2019s company was\u00a0doing.<\/p>\n I opened one. The fortune was written in Turkish. It read: A\u015fka inanan durdurmak asla<\/em>. Translation: Don\u2019t give up on\u00a0love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n James Tressler was a reporter for the Times-Standard. His books, including \u201cConversations in Prague,\u201d as well as \u201cThe Trumpet Fisherman and other \u0130stanbul Sketches,\u201d are available at Amazon and Lulu. He lives in\u00a0\u0130stanbul.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" James Tressler \u201cSevgililer g\u00fcn\u00fcm\u00fcz kutlu olsun!\u201d Or Happy Valentine\u2019s Day\u201d in\u00a0Turkish. One wouldn\u2019t immediately associate Valentine\u2019s Day with the Turks, since it is generally viewed it as a Western holiday. But Lover\u2019s Day, as the Turks call it, has been popular here for many\u00a0years. As with Christmas season, when the streets of Istanbul sparkle with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":65750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2939],"tags":[8820],"class_list":["post-65749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultureart","tag-valentines-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}