Kapalı Çarşı Dergisi

For this reason, three years ago when I got on the plane that would take me to Morocco, I was full of excitement. I was going to sip tea at the natural locations they shot Tea at the Desert and watch the endless glow of the desert. So it happened... Morocco was a dream and every place was like a film site. When I told this feeling to a Moroccan archaeologist, "You are right" he said. Yes, Morocco indeed had plenty of locations that film makers liked a lot and the amount of films made by American and European producers in Morocco were around 40. If you add the childrens' films produced at the magic locations in the desert, called casa or small villages, this amount reached to 50.
I indeed envied these numbers. I had already witnessed that a film can be great tool of propaganda when I was visiting famous Petra of Jordan. Petra meant the pink town. This is a rocky, closed site like Cappadoccia where people have taken refuge to hide from their enemies. Here also, the colour of the rock is pink. The whole area is now a tourist attraction. It takes your whole day to see the place. There are plenty of nice restaurants and resting places within the town.
When I was there, this gem of Jordan was crowded by rich American tourists. I learned the reason for this interest only a moment later. This was the location where famous American director Steven Spielberg had shot his great adventure film, Indiana Jones. Now, the tourists were buying the videos of this location of Indiana Jones like hot cakes. Then I felt sad: what a single film could achieve...
Why do I tell you all these? A month ago, my dear friend Rifat Dedeo€lu told me that he was going to publish a Grand Bazaar magazine and asked me if there was either a Turkish or international film that used Grand Bazaar as its setting. I ran through the books in my library, I asked people who I believed would know about such matters. Sad to say but there was not a single Turkish film that used Grand Bazaar as its location. There was only one documentary... And that was a documentary about the vanishing arts and crafts.
This information indeed surprised me a lot. Why was Grand Bazaar -one of the most colourful places in the world- not the setting of any film? How come nobody thought of making a film on life at this place?
Yes, Grand Bazaar is like the Pandora's box at the heart of Istanbul. A place where the most beautiful carpets, the most glittery jewels, the oldest and the most valuable antiques have come and gone.
This bazaar of human expertise; this magnificent place where oldest and most precious jewellery had come and gone; where skillful hands have shaped gold and silver like a coy girlfriend in the backrooms; unfortunately beyond our interests, have gone into its own seclusion.
Why was the Bazaar so far away from us while it was right under our noses?
Every young girl who has found her prince on a white horse visits Grand Bazaar at least once in her lifetime. Only God knows how many couples bought their wedding rings from Grand Bazaar and how many once rich men when desperate sold their most valuable jewellery in order to take some bread home. Or, how many young boys, hands clutched to his father's, were brought here to become an apprentice dreaming of becoming a master goldsmith. Nobody can guess the secret family tragedies, the great love stories which went on under the magnificent roof of this Bazaar. Nobody can say how many masters taught their art to how many apprentices at the workshops; amongst the clouds of gold dust.
From which country were the most stingy tourists?
When the night comes and all the shops are closed, what tales would the patron saints whisper to each other in this great silence and darkness?
Nobody knows the answers to these questions. But in fact, the Bazaar has so many stories different tales to tell... Unfortunately none of these stories took their places in a movie or a novel. Perhaps Grand Bazaar was willing to stay always sealed and a bit mystic. Who knows.