VIDEO-NEWS: Those in İstiklal Street Tell on First Workday

Click here to read the article in Turkish / Haberin Türkçesi için buraya tıklayın

It is the first workday in İstiklal street after the suicide attack which claimed four lives. The most crowded place of the street is the scene of explosion, like in yesterday. Journalists, police, tourists, those who leave flower and pray…

Anti-riot vehicles (TOMA), police buses which had become fixture of the street are absent today. A group of undercover cops are waiting at every street corner and by bagel seller. There are red-vested police along the street.

The street which passed the weekend desolately is relatively more crowded today. Everyone is in worry of making to work on time. There is foot traffic in front of the explosion point. No matter how hurry they are in, anyone passing the street stops there for a while.

We enter Atlas Passage. Ercan Koçer is wiping the glasses while saying, “People are nervous but life goes on. We have to come to the shop and work. So we clean the passage”.

Just ahead of the passage, another employee smoking in front of a bookstore doesn’t want to talk to the camera. “I don’t know what I shall say, I don’t feel anything anymore. I don’t feel nervous either. After I got my head out of the window and saw human pieces, I don’t feel anything anymore”. 

CLICK - STORIES OF THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN İSTİKLAL ATTACK

Another artisan conveys his feelings as follows: “I was here at the time of the incident. I winced of the sound but wasn’t nervous. Of course you feel bad and get scared but life goes on. On that day, when I slowly headed for my home, I felt that I moved away from the incident. I guess people away from here may not be able to understand what is happening here”. 

Owner of a restaurant very close to explosion point, Faruk Altun says, “We have to live, we live, employ people, pay tax. You live what is destined for you. If you live in fear, your life turns into hell”.

He explains the police in the street work and try a lot:

“There is weakness and lack of intelligence, but police on duty here have no fault, we see how much they work here. Thanks to god, there is no wounded on our side. When the man turned the other side and detonated, the other side suffered damage. But it is still human, it doesn’t matter who gets hurt. What is the excuse of that little kid? Or others… This country is undergoing an eclipse of reason. We can’t do anything but say god help us”.

CLICK - İSTİKLAL STREET 1 DAY AFTER BOMB ATTACK

While some tourists are leaving Taksim with their luggage, some others continue travelling and taking photos. We speak with the tourists standing at the explosion site. They say how sad they are because of the incident and came to visit commemoration point. 

Emel from Jordan explains she came to İstanbul with her spouse on Saturday. Emel, who is PhD student and research assistant in Cyprus starts speaking by saying “I am from the Middle East as well” as we ask of how she feels. “I am very sorry. These assaults destroy anything beautiful. I am worried about my children, husband, all loved ones because these incidents take place every day, everywhere”. (BK/ÇT/TK)