The Today Show in Istanbul

The Today Show is doing a segment call “Where in the World” with Matt Lauer. I didn’t know anything about this till a friend in the states Skyped me on May 1st and said Matt Lauer is in Istanbul today. First I googled Matt Lauer to see who that was, then she told me a little about it, since I couldn’t watch. If you also missed it, the whole thing is on the Today Show web site..

I was skeptical as to if it was really live, but I was assured that it was. The only reason I believe this is because I watched it and people had written in e-mail questions for him about Turkey. Why am I skeptical? May 1st isn’t the day I would suggest touring Istanbul, in fact most people I know stayed home that day. A little history…

May 1st is a Worker’s Day holiday, celebrated in Europe. On May 1st, 1977 there was an organized demonstration of Labor Unions in Istanbul. The demonstration turned bad and in the end 36 people died and 453 people were arrested. After that demonstrations were banned in Taksim Square on May 1st, it is not celebrated as a holiday and for several years celebrations were banned altogether. Since we have been here there are typically demonstrations, one in Europe and on in Asia and we are encouraged to not go near them.

Last year, illegal demonstrations near Taksim Square and Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul’s Besiktas district and other districts were violent. Istanbul’s public transportation services were curtailed by the authorities, with ferry service across the Bosphorus suspended for several hours and bridge traffic cut down to a single lane bound for Europe on both intercontinental bridges. (That was taken from this year’s Warden’s Message) I remember this because we were going out that day and couldn’t hardly get anywhere. So this year we planned to stay home (except Chad – he went out – but in the opposite direction.)

This year? What you won’t see on Matt Lauer’s “travel log”… Turkish riot police used clubs, tear gas and water cannons to break up crowds of workers and students trying to reach a main Istanbul square for a Labor Day rally banned by the government.

I am NOT trying to scare people off of Istanbul. I hope that you will watch the video’s and they will inspire you to come visit us. This city / country is great. Things like this don’t happen every day, May 1st is only one day a year. That is why I thought it was an interesting day to shoot a video, but clearly you can do both in the same day!