On a typical sunny summer day, the road along the Bosporous becomes a mosh pit of fishermen with extended families, teenaged boys swimming and young couples walking hand in hand.
But in the moments leading up to Turkey’s World Cup matches, the streets empty and silence descends on this city of 12 million, as if all were holding their breath simultaneously.
In a city that truly never sleeps, it is an eerie sight.
This is the first year since 1954 that Turkey has qualified to play in the World Cup.
Yusuf Yazar, who has been a shepherd for 30 years in Kars, bought a battery-powered television that he took into the mountains in a wheelbarrow.
“I haven’t missed any matches,” he said.
“The World Cup is important to us because it is our only national sport, as in any developing country, because it can be played in the street and everybody played,” businessman Murat Tandogan said.
Immediately after each of Turkey’s victories, Istanbul has erupted in noise. Passing ferries blow their whistles, trucks blast their horns. There are all-day traffic jams as fans pack the streets.
Hurriyet, the country’s largest daily newspaper, thought Turkey’s first victory over China was worthy of a second edition–something the paper hasn’t done since the Sept. 12, 1980, military coup.
Elsewhere in the country, fans also celebrated.
Near the city of Eskisehir, famous for its geese, Levent Gocele painted his white birds red and hung tiny Turkish flags around their necks to demonstrate his national pride.
A soccer fan in Izmir set his car on fire after the game against Japan and threatened to burn down his house if his country makes it into the final.
Saturday, one loss, one tie and two victories into Cup play, Turkey faced Senegal in the quarterfinals, and the soccer pundits went into overdrive.
Analyzing strategies for the upcoming game, Sabah, one of the country’s leading newspapers, reported that the Senegal team uses “black magic” to support its players and defeat opponents.
Turks were not quite sure what to expect in the upcoming quarterfinal game against the scrappy African team that rocked the soccer world with its unexpected defeat of the favored French team.
“In Senegal almost every national affair runs under a magic spell,” said the article in Sabah. “The most experienced magicians have been sent to Japan and Korea for the final games. They blow their horns and special drums during the matches. Senegal players tune into the sound. They are able to concentrate on the games in almost a state of unconsciousness.”
Strangely enough, Medyum Memis, a high-society Turkish medium who volunteered to go to Japan to counteract the effects of the magic strategy, said that the same spells that support the Senegalese players also hinder their opponents.
“Such spells affect the players’ nervous systems and weaken their reflexes, gradually affecting the final score,” Memis was quoted as saying.
“If they have their magic, we have our prayers, which will carry our golden boys all the way to the World Cup,” said Kamil Bila as he drove a cab late Friday night. “This is very important to us. . . . This is the happiest thing in our lives right now.”
The World Cup has given Turks a rare chance to celebrate and has provided a welcome distraction from the day-to-day messiness of national politics. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has been hospitalized off and on for weeks and his illness has contributed to concerns Turkey will not be able to sustain its budding economic recovery.
