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 | | From: | T.R.H. | | Subject: | Wing to wing | | Date: | Sun, 19 Dec 2004 10:24:54 -0800 |
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 | [Originally distributed by TurkC-L:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/turkc-l/ ]
[See http://www.aydingun.com/photo/H/Query/Ist-Buyuk/Martilar-600.jpg
]
x0x Wing to wing
By Firat Ülgür
The winged children of the sea, follow fishes in all waters of Turkey,
who
meets with four seas.
What was it the irrepressible Turkish poet Can Yücel said? ?Gulls are
the
street children of the sea.? Was he thinking of the gulls (of the
order
Charadriiformes) of Istanbul when he said that? If he was, it makes no
difference. The winged children of the sea pursue fish in all the four
seas surrounding Turkey's coasts. With piercing cries they fly behind
the
fishing boats. When the boats return from the open sea with full nets
the
gulls are overjoyed. The Turkish writer Melih Cevdet Anday once
compared
the languages of gulls and pigeons: ?The language of pigeons and doves
is
monotonous, and because it consists of constant repetition is tedious.
We
interpret their voices as Turkish, so in Paris when I heard these
endearing birds saying, ?Üsküdar?a gidelim,? (Let's go to Üsküdar), I
was
astounded at the prevalence of our language. Of course, that is not
all
they say; there is also, ?I am fine, I am fine, I am fine... ,? and ?I
am
waiting my turn, I am waiting my turn, I am waiting my turn... .?
The language of gulls, on the other hand, is generally a screech;
sometimes you can liken it to the shout of a child or the barking of a
dog. The sound of gulls is pleasant on the seashore, but when these
creature settled inland I began to find their voices disturbing. Why
have
our gulls left the seashore and migrated to the city? Because there
are no
fish left in our seas. The gull makes its living not only from the
sea,
but from insects, molluscs and crustaceans in lakes and ponds. Still,
fish
are its main food. These beautiful creatures line up on the shore in
the
mornings and wait for the sun to rise; this waiting resembles a
ceremony
of worship. Then the extravaganza begins. Screeching, the gulls fly
out
over the sea. ?But in this carnival there is no snatching; in other
words,
no gull takes advantage of another. Justice prevails. My old friend
from
Kadiköy, the pharmacist Melih Bey, spends every Sunday on the island
of
Büyükada. He told me that before boarding the ferry he buys a simit
and
tosses pieces to the gulls that accompany the ferry on its voyage.
"None
of the gulls attempt to seize what belongs to another," he explained.'
While Anday speaks of the 'mariner' gulls, let us return to the doves,
their ?landlubber? friends. Doves are a bird of legend as well as
poetry.
Noah sent a dove from the Ark to see whether land had reappeared, and
it
returned with an olive branch in its beak, showing that the flood
waters
were receding. Some believe that the souls of the innocent take the
form
of doves after death. Pigeons are such faithful home birds that their
ability to find their way back from long distances has been made use
of in
communications.
* Firat Ülgür is a photographer and freelance writer
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