At "Teras Büklüm"

Now it can be told: Here is a selection of pictures, going all the way back to 2004, of a particular crash pad that was very popular among certain youths in Ankara, my friends among them.

"Teras Büklüm," as it was called, was one of the innumerable places to hang out and drink in the drawn-out and boring weekend nights of the Turkish capital. A rooftop flat now abandoned by its owners, the only way to access it was to creep up silently through the apartment building and again, silently unlock and climb through a window leading up to its balcony. That famous window is seen in the first picture of this post. Here is what the flat looked like from the inside.

Now decorated all over with graffiti, Teras Büklüm had passed through its heyday in the mid-to-late nineties, when its owner was still living there and was throwing legendary house parties almost daily.

Here is the "living room" overlooking a beautiful vista of Ankara. The faint red glow seen from the right-hand window is Anıtkabir, the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Much fun was had in front of this regal view, as the beer bottles littering the floor can attest.

A bizzare collection of objects still remained in the house, including a broken-down old radio, a bird's cage, a smashed guitar and perplexingly, a pair of jeans. I wonder who took it off, and why?

A detailed view of the layers of graffiti covering the main window.

The fanciful "Büklüm Club" sign was overlaid with faded lines of song lyrics and bad poetry.

A weird poem written on one of the doors read as:
No one tops you in making beauty ugly, in blaming the world for your fault. You knew the value for nothing, and you won't for me. You will ruin this too, certainly.
Note: A reader known as "Pınar" has warned me that this poem is actually a selection of lyrics by Teoman, a sex-obsessed Turkish pop star.

Here are some of the more interesting pictures we found on the walls. Here is a perplexing cube. But... it's also a lightbulb! Wow!

So hardcore!

This drawing, termed the "David Bowie" after the name of the song written next to it, was probably the most haunting image I came across in Teras Büklüm.

One really wonders the artists who painted these images, and their mind-states at the time.

And thus, with a peek at the Trainspotting-like toilet of Teras Büklüm, we finish our Tutankhamen-esque photo expedition of this wonderful place.

The last I visited this place was in a cold winter in 2006, two years after these photos were taken. The window had been smashed and then boarded up, making entry impossible for visitors. After that, rumors started that the entire building was to be demolished, but as far as I knew, nothing of this sort happened. I now have no idea what state Teras Büklüm is, since I haven't visited Ankara for more than two years.

From Ankara to Istanbul and Back

The road from Ankara to Istanbul...

...and the road that goes from Istanbul to Ankara.

From Station to Station

A view from the dreary-but-happy days when I'd take the bus to Ankara almost every weekend. To avoid traffic in the cities, bus companies always drop their passengers off in distant, scary, Silent Hill type locations in the outskirts.

The TUBITAK Headquarters

A crashed airplane? The headquarters of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) is one of the most infamous modernist landmarks of Ankara.

Drunk in a Snowstorm

After hours in the winters of Ankara: My friends Neco, Ali and I are heading for an indeterminate destination under a whipping snowstorm.

Barely resisting the cold, Neco offers his last beer to Ali. With all the bars closing down early in weekdays, the only chilling alternative is to drink in the streets... no matter what it takes!

As a consequence of all the drinks, we end up drawing a giant snow phallus in front of a villa which we think is owned by members of the AKP, the local conservative party. All of these photos date back to 2005.

Crap Buddha

I saw this molten-looking Buddha at a Chinese/Japanese restaurant in Ankara, perhaps placed there with the hopes of providing a more authentic atmosphere. Personally, all it provided me was an overwhelming desire to throw up all over it.

Minibar

Here we go with a brief special about the "minibar" phenomenon in Ankara, the Turkish capital.

Ankara has a large population of educated, affluent youth, and their constant longing for quality nightlife is rarely satisfied. Without many nice bars or nightclubs to go, they have taken matters into their own hands, and began drinking in the streets. But this is a special kind of drinking-in-the-street, and it has acquired its own name, "minibar."

This picture shows my friend Neco and some other people having a good time at the corner of Bestekar street. Notice the posh bars and nightclubs in the background, none of which are preferable to drinking in the streets.

Minibar blues on the corner around the Vakif Bank in Ankara. Minibars can form anywhere and everywhere young people hang around. You can see foreign ambassadors' kids and true-blue Turkish punks making out, or puking on the same sidewalks in perfect harmony.

Surprisingly, a similar phenomenon used to exist in Istanbul until recently. Though nowhere as popular as the Ankara minibar, hundreds of street-drinkers would concentrate in the infamous "Back Street" near the Nevizade in Taksim. Unlike Ankara's minibar crowd, the "Back Street" people hailed from less wealthy segments of the society. Their retort to the streets was a consequence of desperation rather then self-imposed boredom.

Ankara Skyline

The skyline of Ankara, with the city emerging out of the Anatolian plain like undulating waves of concrete.

Ankara! Ankara!

Dark, cold and weary, this picture seems to sum up all there is to know about winters at the Turkish capital.

A relatively more cheerful view of Ankara. Le Corbusier would be proud.