This city lies quietly on the Sea of Marmara, with a tempting view of the Bosphorus Strait, in addition to the attractive coastline on the Black Sea. Thus, all the elements of distinction and dazzle are complete for every visitor, enchanting him with its deadly beauty, picturesque nature, order, cleanliness, and suspicious calm, despite the constant crowding and non-stop movement. Very late at night, let me describe it as the city of a million restaurants and cafes, those shops that force every passerby to enter to have a meal or drink a cup of tea or coffee, and the coolness of the atmosphere seems to help in this.
This wonderful and attractive city welcomes and smiles at everyone, despite the sulking known to the Turks in general, but it welcomes tourists, merchants, people, and celebrities, and opens its embrace to them and showers them with fake tenderness and formal romance. They are dazzled by the beauty of its beauties and its amazing tourist places, and you find them spending millions of dollars on “nothing” while they are intoxicated. Perhaps they will be surprised at the end of the trip by the large sums of money swallowed by the Istanbul cash machines, which are never satisfied. Life in Istanbul is like a game (gambling).
As for the one who was destined to reside there by fate, he must adapt to all the impossibilities until he can bear the baring of its sharp and poisonous fangs. It will not host him much and will not pamper him as he was a visitor, tourist, or hospital. Therefore, he must accept the reality that he is not wanted in his presence, and some glances may follow him in the eyes. On the roads and inside the markets in particular, there are looks that carry with them questions such as: “You foreigners, you are the reason for this high price and the suffering that citizens in general and the residents of Istanbul in particular are suffering from.” Perhaps some of them will express this in their complex and disobedient language, saying, “Al-Abnji,” meaning this foreigner does not care about the high prices. He is shopping. He also wants that he has many dollars, and some of them say that they came from their countries and took over most of the jobs and the citizen has become unemployed, and some of them think that their government spends money on foreigners. I do not know where they came up with these strange possibilities, or rather, illogical nonsense. Perhaps there are hidden parties seeking to harm the economy. Turkey, after its remarkable renaissance in tourism, industry and trade, I am certain that what some citizens do, intentionally or unintentionally, will harm the economy of their country sooner or later. Let us stop this conversation and let us resume what we have said. Everyone must therefore not respond to these small lapses, questioning looks, and some provocative words from some of them, so that you can live. In psychological safety, you enjoy the wonderful atmosphere and beautiful places that some of the bored and sulky people do not enjoy. These Turks do not know that some foreigners have been placed by fate in this blurry choice that restricts all possibilities. He is helpless and suffers more than them, but he has no other choice but patience, tolerance and silence. Do you believe it? Most of the expatriates were competent in their country, and unfortunately they spread their abilities and talents and buried them in the corners of this mysterious city. It is the luxurious cemetery that devours the happiness, dreams, talents and wealth of many. What is worse is that it does not give them enough space to be sad and express what is inside them as they wish, but rather forces them to express and be sad. With her hasty way in everything, what a beautiful but harsh city it is, despite its greenery and the splendor of its cloudy sky most of the seasons of the year. It is as if she resembles a very beautiful girl in appearance, but she is devoid of concepts and content. Therefore, she is not suitable for marriage and starting a family in most cases, but she is good at dazzling those loitering in bars and cafes, and she knows how to… It steals the hearts of some of its wealthy patrons who are looking for beauty in appearance, and are good at winning beautiful women for fun for a limited time. Thus, Istanbul is for tourism and enjoyment and is not suitable for residence or work for most expatriates except a few of them, and even those who have invested in it are still afraid of its treacherous surprises.
It is the city of great traps, as described by the writer Abdul Jalil Suleiman in his novel Losing Papers. However, if you decide or are forced by days to work there, you will not be able to describe your work as a good thing or vice versa. You will work with all your effort and exhaust all your energies, and no matter how developed you become, you will find yourself spinning in a circle. It is empty and you cannot get out of it or continue to revolve around it. All you have to do is stand and wait and do not know what you are waiting for. Istanbul tempts everyone in its beginnings, and quickly surprises them with successive setbacks, leaving them no room to arrange their affairs as they had planned. I mentioned to you at the beginning of the article that it is a luxurious cemetery that was swallowed up inside it. Many dreams for some of those who went to it carrying their ambitions in their hearts. Perhaps most of them were ignorant of its precise details and derived their information about it from the media and heedless brokers, until they collided with its bitter reality when its treacherous waves struck the ships of their dreams, and they realized at that time that it was the thief of lives, hopes and eagerness, shackles goals and stumbles mistakes. It is the magical city that opens its luminous paths to everyone so that everyone steps towards it with hasty steps and is reassured, and suddenly, in the same path, it rolls them backwards, just like its streets. It is the city of treachery, evasion, betrayal, and serial pranks. The strange thing is that it seems as if it has a vendetta with generous people, for it is excellent at humiliating them, and with the same amount of generosity. The humiliated.
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