Merkel visits Istanbul’s historical peninsula
Always a crowded location, Tuesday was especially busy in Istanbul’s historical Sultanahmet neighborhood as German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited popular tourist sites in the area.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center left, speaks with Professor Mustafa Çağrıcı, second right, during her visit to the Blue Mosque. AP photo
Taking off her shoes, but not covering her head while visiting the Blue Mosque, Merkel was accompanied by muezzin Durmuş Akbulut, who also accompanied U.S. President Barack Obama and Pope Jean Paul II when they visited the site.
Merkel was in Istanbul on Tuesday after earlier meetings with Turkish political players in Ankara. Her visit to Istanbul’s historical peninsula drew a large crowd of domestic and foreign reporters.
Merkel also visited the Hagia Sophia Museum where she was accompanied by museum director Haluk Dursun, who was her guide to the building, which was built as a church in Byzantine times before becoming a mosque during the Ottoman Empire. In the 20th century, the building became museum.
“[Merkel is] a very curious visitor who frequently asked questions,” Dursun said in comments to the press after Merkel left.
According to Dursun, the dome of the building, the sultan’s library, calligraphy on the walls and the graves of five Ottoman sultans, together with their wives, interested Merkel the most.
Asked about Merkel’s uncovered hair following her visit to the nearby Blue Mosque, Akbulut said covering oneself is not mandatory during visits. “We tell the visitors that ‘this is a temple, the house of Allah.’ Those who feel it is necessary wear [a headscarf].”
Istanbul’s German school
Under strict security Merkel then visited the Private German High School in Beyoğlu, where she was joined by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay.
Her visit to the high school came after a debate with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the establishment of Turkish high schools in Germany for migrant Turks.
In preparation for the high school visit, police cordoned off the street in front of the building and checked the bags and identities of passersby. For the actual visit, only reporters from the state-owned Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, or TRT, and Anatolia news agency permitted inside.
The chancellor was greeted by a banner reading "Herzlich Willkommen-Hoş Geldiniz” (Welcome), along with the cheers of assembled students. Later, Merkel spoke with the students, gave autographs and posed for photographs with the pupils.
During the visit, Merkel asked the Turkish ministers how they perceived German schools in Turkey from their political points of view.
Davutoğlu responded, saying the German schools have a cultural function that strengthens the political ground between the two countries.
Svetoslava Vasileva, a grade 12 student, cited a lack of integration between the German and Turkish students when Merkel asked the students if they had any criticisms about the school.
Cüneyt Zapsu, a 1974 graduate, said there was no difference between German and Turkish classes during his time. However, he said, the eight years of Turkey’s mandatory schooling worked against German and French schools because language education only starts now in grade 9, as opposed to the previous grade 5.
Davutoğlu agreed with Zapsu, saying language classes in the grades 6, 7 and 8 could be added to the curriculum in the future pending legal adjustments.
Merkel, meanwhile, said, “It would be possible to change this system during the next reform, perhaps.”
After the school, Merkel visited the German Protestant Church at Beyoğlu Aynalıçeşmı where police enacted even stricter security measures, checking the identities of passersby and reporters via portable electronic devices.
The chancellor spoke to priest Holger Nollman and German Catholic Church priest Aloys Butzkamm for an hour in private before informally looking around the church along with Günay and the priests.
Nollman told Anatolia news agency that they discussed problems such as the dialogue between the German community and the local government, along with the lack of legal status for the church.