Oh, Those Summer Nights

On many of the trees in my neighborhood small white flowers are blooming, they hang in bunches like grapes and have a strong sweet fragrance.    When the sun sets and the breeze washes down the hill, their perfume is carried into my room on waves of cool air.  With the warm nights and dependable weather the night life has really gone full-tilt.  The entire dynamic of this city has shifted since the winter.

Today is also May 19th, a National Holiday in Turkey, where the city is draped in red flags.  On Cevahir Mall a four-story banner of the man himself, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, covered the face of the building where people entered.  Now, some people may speculate huge religious tension at this point, heck, this year the big National Holiday falls on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer.  And one of the republics foremost judges was assassinated by a man calling himself a warrior of Allah.  There is some shake up, but I didn't see anything out walking today that seemed out of place, no crowds avoiding other crowds or such.  There may be some shake up coming soon in the political arena.

The current government (prime minister, et all) has roots in being more Islamist than might be expected in a secular republic.  After all, when bird flu hit, his comment was that the issue would be brought up in Friday's prayers.  So we're seeing some calls for resignation coming from opposition parties.  We'll see how this one goes, it's probably just going to be politics heating up with the weather, but who knows?