Esra SELVAN

Gectigimiz Temmuz ayi, beni daha once Israil vizemden dolayi almayan Iran’i pasaportumu degistirerek bu defa ziyaret edebildim. Oncelikle bu yazida Iran’ da gezilmesi ve yapilmasi gereken seyler tadinda bir yazi beklemeyelim, cunku daha cok ne gordum ve hissettim tadinda bir yazi olacaktir.

Oncelikle Iran, Dunya’nin en koklu tarihi mirasina sahip sayili ulkelerinden. Ulkede gezilecek bircok yer var ama benim bu gezimde vaktim Tebriz, Tehran, Isfahan, Sar Agha Seyed koyu, Shiraz, Bushehr ve Yazd’a yetti.

Iran’li insanlar denilince ilk soyleyebilecegim hem nufusun yarisini olusturan Azeri Turkleri olsun hem de Fars’lilar cok ama cok misafirperver olmalari. Oyle ki yeni tanidigin bir insan sana koc kesebiliyor. Seni tanimayan insanlar Turkiye’den oldugunu ogrenince evlerine davet ediyorlar, sattiklari urunun kimi zaman parasini almak istemiyor ya da bir sey ismarlamak istiyorlar.

Turk sarkilari neredeyse her aracta var ve yolda yururken dahi arabalardan Turk sarkilarini duyabiliyorsun. Ibrahim Tatlises ve onun son durumu hala ilgilerini cekiyor, Turk dizileri her zamanki gibi cok cok izleniyor. Turk halki fazlasiyla seviliyor ama devlet yoneticileri pek de sevilmiyor. Konusmalar sirasinda muslumanliktan konu acilip mezhep mevzusu olabiliyor ama rahatsiz edici tek bir konusma olmuyor.

Genel gozlem olarak anliyoruz ki insanlari eger bir konuda zorlarsaniz ters teper, bu yuzden dinde baskasinin inanc bicimini sorgulamamak ve zorlamamak istenilmistir.
Bana diger gezilerimden farkli hissettiren noktasi, kapali oldugumdan oranin yerlisinden bir farkin olmamasi ama tarzinla onlara gore gercekten kapali olman. Yabanci oldugun anlasiliyor ama onlarin algisinda kendi ulkemde acik oldugun dusunuluyor, kapali oldugumu soyleyince garipsiyenler oluyor.

Basina tam anlamiyla kapatan neredeyse kimse yok (carsaf giyinen kadinlar dahil), Turkiye’de misal bu ortalama kadinlarin yarisi kapali seklinde ise orada yuzde 10 kadar. Kendisini gostermek isteyen kadinlar oldukca dar giyinmekte ve cok agir makyajlar yapmaktadir.

Yolda kadin-erkek ameliyat bandajli bircok kisi gorebiliyorsunuz, estetik ameliyati cok yaygin. Konustugum biri, orada bircok insanin bir dine inanmadigindan bahsetti. Kimse kendi yonetimini de sevmiyor. Icki olarak normal ulkelere gore daha fazla kacak icki oldugunu bir arkadas soylemisti. Gercektende her ne kadar kapali olsan da kadinlardan herkes kapali oldugundan icki ikram etmek isteyenler de cikabiliyor.

Ayrica sohbet ettigim kisilerden edindigim bilgiye gore uyusturucu ve gece partileri de oldukca yaygin. Ambargo uzun yillar etkisini surdurdugunden Tehran haric diger sehirlerde cok yeni modelli arabalar goremiyorsunuz. Deli gibi araba surduklerini ve Istanbul’un trafiginden daha ciddi bir trafige sahip olduklarini soyleyebilirim. Ilginctir Coca Cola ve Fanta gibi urunler oldukca fazla satiliyor.

Yazin gittigimden hava oldukca sicakti ama vakit olmayisindan bu mevsimde gitmek zorunda kaldim. Yemek olarak genelde etli yemekler yiyorlar. Yemeklerin yaninda ayrica pirinc pilavi cok tuketiliyor. Ayrani naneli iciyorlar. Bizim susamli lavas tarzi unlu mamulumuz onlarin ekmekleri oluyor. Sabah kahvaltilarinda genelde peynir, recel ve krem santi ikilisi cok yeniliyor. Onlarda cayi seviyor ama bizim caya gore daha tadi hafif. Yeme-icme maliyeti Turkiye’ye cok yakin, belki bir tik asagi diyebilirim. Neredeyse her 100 metrede bir cesmeleri var. Aksamlari olarak neredeyse her aile yuruyuse ya da piknik yapmaya cikiyor.

Cuma gunleri her yer kapali oluyor, herkes il disina kaciyor. Tabelalarda bizler gibi cok logo kullanilmamis. Kadinlar ve erkekler otobuslerde ya da metrolarda ayri bolmelerde oturuyor ama karsi cinsin bolmesinde oturmak zorunda kalinca cok buyuk sikinti olmuyor. Metro’larin her duragi sanki pazar alani, her durakta elinde urunleri ile saticilar dolaniyor.

En gelismis ve modern yeri Tehran burada Milad ve Azadi Kulesi, en buyuk carsilardan biri oranin Kapali Carsisini gezebilir, Tebriz ise herkesin seni anlayabilecegi bir yer, Kapadokya’nin baska versiyonu icin Kendovan’a ugrayabilirsiniz, Isfahan kendi dokusunu koruyabilmis Nakş-ı Cihan Meydanı, Şeyh Lütfullah Camii, Mescid-i Şah, Si-o-se-pol ve Khaju Bridge baslica gezilecek yerleri, Shiraz da ise Irem Baglari, sabahlari renklerin raksettigi Nasir El Mulk camisi, Persepolis, Vekil Pazaridir.

Yazd’da zerdustlerin onceleri akbabalara kurbanlarin gozlerini yem ettigi sessizlik kulesine benim gibi gidebilirsiniz. Bushehr’ de benim gibi Korfez’e gidip, kiyilari boyunca yol alabilirsiniz ama dikkat cok sicak. Bunlarin disinda Palangan gorselleri ile karistirilan Sar Agha Seyed koyune, Isfahan uzerinden Chelgerd yapip sonrasinda hayatimin en unutulmaz ucurumlu ve tas yollarinda 2 saat yol alip baskalarinin catisinin sizin bahceniz oldugu bu guzel koye varabilirsiniz. Ulasima 6 ay acik olan bu koy, tam Dunya’ nin bir ucunda denilebilecek bir yerde.

Kisaca Iran, modern yasantisi olarak kimilerin dedigi gibi kesmeli bicmeli yer degil, ben onyargisiz gittim ama cogu giden arkadasim orada onyargilarini tam anlamiyla yiktilar. Insanlari muhtesem misafirperver. Inanilmaz guzel insanlarla tanistim, yemeklerini tattim, gitmek istedigim yerlere gittim, ertelemedim. Ilk Iran’a giremeyisim sorun olmadi ve en cok da bu huyumu seviyorum, pes etmiyorum ve yasamak istedigimi tadiyorum. Bence dusunen varsa onlar da yol almali.

In last July, I had chanced to visit Iran this time thanks to the alteration of my passport due to my Israel visa in my another passport which didn’t let me go Iran. First of all, please don’t expect any information with detail regarding places to visit or have to do in Iran. Because this text more than this thinking will be expressing about what I have felt and seen there.

First of all, Iran has one of the most rooted historical heritages of the world within several civilizations. There are many places to visit in this country but my trip was covering Tabriz, Tehran, Isfahan, The Village of Sar Agha Seyed, Shiraz, Bushehr and Yazd due to my limited time.

As for the people of Iran, the first thing I can tell you is that they are both Azeri Turks who are the half of the population in Iran and Persian fairly hospitable. As such that, a person who met you new can cut a lamb for you. When they have learned that you are from Turkey, the people invite you to their homes, from the other side the seller doesn’t want to get sometimes your money or citizen wants to order you something.

Turkish song has almost every at a car and you can hear Turkish songs from the cars even while you are on the road. Ibrahim Tatlises and his latest situation are still the topics of curiosity, the Turkish series is watched as always.  During your conversation, the topic can come the point which is about Islam and denomination of Muslim but it is not a single disturbing speech.

Understand that as a general observation, if you force people to do something in a certain way, this case illustrates the reverse reaction. Therefore, it is desirable in our religion not to question and force the form of faith of the other person. The point that made me feel different from my other trips was the fact that I haven’t appeared dissimilar from local people due to already using hijab but to be honest I was wearing more cover than Persian. It is understandable that you are foreign, but in their perception, they think that you don’t use hijab in your country and when you have said that in my country also I am wearing hijab, they marvel to me.

There is almost no one who closes heads completely. (Including women who use burka), in the case of turkey, for instance, half of these average women are in acceptable closed form, in Iran, there is about 10 percent. Women who want to show herself are dressed very narrow and make very heavy make-up.

On the way you can see many people both men and women with a bandage, cosmetic surgery is very common. I talked someone about belief and according to him, many people don’t believe any religion in Iran. Nobody likes their own management. One of my friends told that alcohol is forbidden, but there is more illegal alcohol in this country than in any other country. Indeed, even if you are using hijab, there are also those who want to offer a drink because everybody is using hijab from the females and it doesn’t show your stance.

According to the information which I got from local people, the drugs and night parties are quite common there. You can not see much new model cars in other cities except Tehran due to the reflection of embargo for a long time. I can tell you that they drive a car like crazy and have a more serious traffic jam than Istanbul traffic. Interestingly, products such as coca cola and fanta are sold extensively.

The weather was warm as I went in the summer but there was no chance to change my plan due to my limited time. Usually, eat meat dishes as a meal. Also, they eat meat with the rice are very consumed. They are drinking buttermilk with mint. Our Sesame lavas style bakery is their bread. In the morning, the cheeses, croissants and cream crisps are often eaten. They like tea as our country, but it’s slightly lighter than ours. The cost of eating-drinking is very close to Turkey, maybe a bit down. there are many fountains almost frequently every 100 meters. During the day, almost every family is doing a picnic or walking once time.

Fridays are every shopping place closed. Everyone is going to out from the city centre. There are not many logo or symbol used on the signboards. Women and men are seated in different places on buses or in subways, but there is not much trouble when they have to sit in the place of opposite gender. The station of metro is an area as a bazaar because in all station there are many sellers who show their products in order to sell the passenger.

The most advanced and modern place is Tehran in Iran, There are Milad and Azadi Towers, Grand Bazaar. Tabriz is a place where everyone can understand you in Turkish, there is Kendovan for another version of Cappadocia. Isfahan is a place which protects its own nativity, there are Nakş-ı Cihan Square, the Sheikh Lutfullah Mosque, Mescid-i Shah, Si-o-se-pol and Khaju Bridges, In Shiraz, there are a Nasir El Mulk Mosque which is dancing with colours in the morning, Persepolis and Vekil Bazaar.

In Yazd, you can go to the tower of silence like me, where Zarathustra has been feeding victim’s eye by a vulture for their ceremony in the past time. In Bushehr, you can go to the side of Gulf like me and walk along the seaside, but the attention is very hot. You can arrive at this beautiful village where you need to go Chelgerd to Sar Agha Seyed with a way among the cliff and enjoy the most unforgettable experience of my life and take 2 hours on the stone roads. The property of this village is that the roof of your home is a garden for your neighbour. This village, because of the weather, the transportation of road is available to go out from the village for 6 months, is a place where you can be forgetten on one side of the whole world.

Shortly Iran, it is not a place which is enforced the strongly Muslim religious law as somebody’s thinking. I have been there already without any prejudice but some of my friends have changed all of their thinking and stereotype against to Iran. The hospitality of the people is pretty wonderful in Iran. I met with incredibly beautiful people, I tasted very delicious foods, went to places what I wanted to go, I did not postpone any of them. My first attempting for the trip of Iran didn’t a problem for me and actualized to the second attempting. I like my character which is not giving up easily and can do whatever I want. I think if anyone is thinking to do something also they should start from somewhere and take the road.