Iskender with Arzu - by Robert Walton - Turkey
Iskender with Arzu
By Robert Walton
Heat shimmered over the Bosphorus as we - my wife Phyllis, our sons Jeremy and Jon, and me - set off together at sunset to meet a friend of Jeremy's on the Asian side. Arzu, a young woman from Izmet, is completing her master's thesis on illegal immigration into Turkey from former Soviet republics. Women from these places are among the world's most poor, desperate and exploited. They seek the outermost fringes of Turkey's prosperity as maids, and prostitutes. Arzu has tried to discover, document, and tell their story.
Illegal immigration is a hot topic in Turkey and brings out the worst in some nationalistic Turks. Accurate information about the problem can only help mitigate its negative effects. Jeremy promised to proofread Arzu's next to last draft - written in English. I find it more than impressive that she composed a formal academic paper in a second language. How many U.S. grad students could write an academic paper in Turkish?
Arzu's smile brightened the twilight when she greeted us at her door. She is a sprightly, dark-haired young woman, not quite five feet five feet tall. She offered us tea. We happily accepted and perched on her couch. We spoke of our adventures thus far. She told us about her brothers' business enterprises. Most Turks, I've noticed, have a variety of income-producing irons in the fire. The one thing she absolutely did not wish to discuss, however, was her thesis. She gave a copy to Jeremy for him to amend it at his leisure.
We soon set off on a back street shortcut to the restaurant Arzu had chosen. The alleys we traversed were dank and dismal. Entering similar alleys in New York would shorten your life expectancy drastically. Denizens of such allies have no place better to go, but can often think of worse things to do than lean against walls. The evil-looking characters lurking in various noisome shadows offered us no hindrance, however.
We arrived at a well-lit restaurant and were seated outside near the sidewalk railing. This establishment had a reputation for serving good Iskender. Our friend Cemal Bey, a native of Bursa, had recommended that we try his hometown's signature dish. Arzu is also partial to Iskender. It's curious how bits of remote antiquity are folded into Istanbul's daily life. Iskender, of course, is Alexander the Great. The dish wasn't actually named for him, but for a fellow from Bursa, who was named for him.
I immediately noticed a vertical barbecue built into firebricks in the wall of the restaurant. Coals burned on little platforms like an ascending ladder. A vertical spit rotated next to this ladder of intense heat. On the spit was a roll of compressed lamb. The roll was nearly three feet long and at least eight inches thick. It gleamed with juice as it rotated. The chef carved thick slices off the roll and arranged them on each plate atop beds of pita bread and cherry tomatoes. He plopped a large dollop of yoghurt on top of the meat. Then, to the everlasting horror of my arteries, he poured ladles of melted butter over all. Faced with enough cholesterol to sink the Titanic, we dug in.
Jeremy and Jon had vegetarian dishes and grinned slyly at us as we tried to down the extravagant plates of butter and yoghurt drenched meat. It was
too, too much, but it was tasty. I ate it. Phyllis ate half of it. Tiny Arzu ate like a starved wolf and had smoked her second cigarette before I at last lay down my weary fork.
After tea, we parted in friendship. Arzu had more work to do on her thesis, and we had to prepare for adventures in Cappadocia. Watching the ever-enchanting lights of Istanbul from the ferry's top deck, I waited for my arteries to gurgle shut. There are worse ways to go.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Robert’s local dining recommendation: “This is not the restaurant in which we dined with Arzu, but I strongly recommend Bade Meyhane in the Beyoglu District of Istanbul. It offers a fine traditional meze menu and is a happy place. It's also quite close to Taksim Square.”
( Photo: Robert is 600' off the ground at a belay on Penstemmon Dome, Sierra Nevada.)
Bio: Robert Walton taught at San Lorenzo Middle School for thirty-six years before his retirement in June of 2006. He and Phyllis, his wife of 40 years, still reside in King City. They have two sons – Jeremy, thirty-four and Jon, twenty-nine.
Robert is a life-long rock-climber and mountaineer. He’s made numerous ascents in the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite. Three of his short stories about climbing were published in the Sierra Club's "Ascent". Others appeared in various magazines. He dramatized one, a story named "Three's a Crowd", and it was broadcast on KUSF on November 22nd, 2006. It has been broadcast many more times on PBS since then. His short story "Dogwood Dream" won first place in New Millennium Writing's 2011 short fiction contest. His novel for young people, Chaos Gate, won the 2010 Yorkshire Publishing competition. Most recently, his novella, Vienna Station, won the Galaxy prize and was published as an e-book. It is available for Kindle on Amazon. More information about Robert and his writing is available at his website.