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Same-Sex and the City

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\'\'You won\'t find any gay clubs in Turkey; they castrate gay people there\'\'. Do they? You mean truck loads of mincing hairy Turks are carted off to a special place and in one foul swoop their legendary manhood is resigned to the nearest dumper?

Such was the late night chat room ramblings of a well-informed member of the American gay community.

Consequently, it was with not some trepidation that I arrived in the fabled city of Istanbul with thoughts of sad looking eunuchs reduced to singing 18th century castrati on street corners. Admittedly there were people on street corners, hundreds of them, old wizened men proffering razorblades, condoms and suspectly labeled Viagra, bescarved weather-beaten women displaying a bewildering array of power tools and dozens and dozens of darkly handsome men mesmerizingly attracting your gaze.

The noise and vibrancy of this city hits you like one of the hammer drills you are almost tempted to buy from that scary looking gypsy and you find yourself reacting like a rabbit in headlights not knowing which way to turn as you dodge traffic, blunder into groups of large women dressed entirely in black as they drift along the street like flotillas in full sail, fend off little urchins thrusting over priced packets of tissues into your hands and try, somehow, to find an empty space just to collect your thoughts and orientate yourself, when, all of a sudden, you are deafened by the ear piercing loudspeakers that convey the call to prayer from the hundreds of mosques dotted around the city.

What is this place? Where were the camels and dusty tracks winding into the oasis filled distance full of over burdened donkeys led by bearded merchants? Where were the sumptuous Bedouin tents undulating in the rose scented breeze containing reclining courtesans? These were all images I knew. For years, cigarettes, candy and indulgent decadence have been sold with this image of Turkey. So where was I? What was hiding behind this façade of moderninity, behind the chaos, cacophony of sounds and smells and most of all do they really castrate gay people here?

I was about to discover more

Making my way up from the Bosphorus, the shimmering stretch of water that separates the continents of Europe and Asia, the city unfolds. Not just its overwhelming expanse as it disappears towards the Black sea, with buildings ancient and modern jostling for space along the shoreline but also the people, they too, ancient and modern jostling for position on the crowded streets. Scantily clad young girls with legs up to their armpits giggling and sashaying their way along the cobblestones begging the attention of conservative, tutting old women who pass. Dangerously handsome young men, wearing clothes obviously one size too small accentuating well hewn torsos, attentively walk arm in arm and there, struggling, trying to stop his cart running away down the hill, a lamp seller appeared. This was the land of Aladdin wasn\'t it? Somewhere there could be the Turkey I was looking for, the one I had been brought up to believe.

I was looking for someone who could divulge the underbelly of secrets in this confusing place and I had heard of someone who might help. I had found out about a couple who were operating a gay tour company based in Istanbul that was flogging Turkey as a sophisticated travel destination. Were they indeed eunuchs, why were they doing such a thing? I eventually found the office and expecting a small room in a basement run by a nervy type, I was whisked up to a plush, pristinely white suite of rooms to be greeted by a well tailored woman with slicked back peroxide hair.

\'Sweetie, I\'m Serra, we\'ve been expecting you\'. I was ushered in and caught a glimpse of the stunning view of the city from the window.

\'\'Darling, how are you, take a seat, welcome to Istanbul, Tea?\'\'

\'\'Meet my partner\'\'. Ahmet appeared, a man with a moustache that looked as if he\'d been born with. He asked me what I thought of Istanbul, I told him; so far, I loved it and wanted to learn more about the culture. So, still with the image of the castration center in my mind, I broached the subject of gay life in Turkey. At first they both became silent at the suggestion of emasculation but then roared with laughter, almost uncontrollably at the thought. They asked me why on earth I could even think that.

\'\'Let me tell you something\'\' Serra drew on a cigarette in a way that made smoking look healthy.

\'\'Turkey has a long history of same gender sex, the old Sultans used to have harems full of foreign women but weren\'t adverse to a few buff young things! Sexuality is more fluid here, sure lots of people are conservative here but lots of men indulge in gay sex. They don\'t announce it from the roof tops but were not so hung up about sexual preferences, you\'re too uptight in Western culture, it has to be defined, but here we have more important things to worry about, the economy, earthquakes, So, we just like to have fun\'\'.

\'\'There are lots of gay bars and clubs here, new ones open all the time. The scene is expanding and quite a few of our TV stars and pop stars are openly gay. No one loses their balls, we can find much more important uses for them!\'\'

I asked why they had decided to set up a gay tour company; do foreigners want to come here?

\'\'Sweetie, gay guys have been coming here for centuries, they love the hospitality and well, Turkish men are quite exotic\'\'.

It was then that I looked out of the window and as I took in the view before me, scenes of the Crusaders battling their way across the city led by King Richard and Alexander the Great and his armies sweeping across from the West filled my mind. Weren\'t they both gay? Wasn\'t I visibly drooling at all the cute young things on the street as I walked to the office? This was a sexy place. The very atmosphere leaked electricity; the people outside dressed to kill, immaculately dressed, coiffured hair, preening themselves in shop windows. They want to look sexy; they don\'t want to be ignored. Was this natural sexuality, free from the constraints of England\'s Victorian reticence?

Ahmet and Serra took me to dinner that night in a swish restaurant that wouldn\'t have looked out of place in any up market district of London and after, we ended up touring some of the city\'s clubs. They knew everyone, the club owners, pop stars, film stars, A list celebrities. \'\'Sweetie this is why we started the company, we can show our country from the inside, My God we have so many connections\'\'. And indeed they do. \'\'Our clients can feel comfortable with us, we give them the best that the city has to offer, the best hotels, gourmet restaurants and this, are you having fun darling?\'\' Yes I was, a lot

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