If you walk down the streets of Istanbul, you will be greeted by feline after friendly feline. In the capital of Turkey, by all appearances, cats reign supreme. The nation’s relationship with its cats has recently been examined in the 2016 documentary Kedi.
Hundreds of thousands of cats roam Istanbul’s streets. These cats are strays but they are not feral. They are cared for collectively by Istanbul’s citizens, as a whole.
The Economist says Turkey is not the only nation with a love for cats. In fact, honoring felines is quite common in Muslim countries, where Islam says they are “ritually clean”. In fact, The Economist notes, there are actually several examples of Muhammad’s love for cats written throughout the hadith.
“By one account, Muhammad cut off his sleeve when he had to rise for prayers so as to not disturb a feline that had curled up on his robe for a nap.”
“In another tale, the pet cat of Abu Hurayrah (literally “father of the kitten”) saved Muhammad from an attack by a deadly serpent. Muhammad purportedly blessed the cat in gratitude, giving cats the ability to always land on their feet.”
“For thousands of years, [cats] have wandered in and out of people’s lives, becoming an essential part of the communities that make the city so rich,” Kedi’s documentarians explain. In the film, one resident even goes so far as to proclaim, “Without the cat, Istanbul would lose a part of its soul.”
When you take a closer look at Istanbul’s streets, you’ll see residents leaving bowls of food and water out to feed the strays. Restaurant owners donate the money in their jars towards paying for the vet bills for strays, and fishermen pass anchovies to the meowing felines wrapped around their legs. Istanbul’s residents even explain away the reputation cats get for seeming indifferent and cold. “Cats know that people act as middlemen to God’s will,” a resident explains. “They’re not ungrateful— they just know better.”
One female resident says, “I think it’s wrong to trap them in a house just so we can pet them. There are a million of them out there, we pet them all we want.”
In Istanbul, cats teach people how to be tolerant and accepting of other people and creatures.
In an interview with The Guardian, Ceyda Torun, director of Kedi, explains, “There’s nobody here that doesn’t have a memory of cats: no grandmother, no generation has been here without cats, so they’re ingrained in our collective memory.”
“Cats provide this wonderful opportunity for people in Istanbul to pick a moment to be affectionate with a being that doesn’t judge them, that doesn’t have complicated human relationships issues,”
Istanbul seems like an amazing place. Even those of us who aren’t cat lovers can appreciate the relationship and love the residents show for these hundreds and thousands of cats. In times like today, where everyone seems drawn apart by differences and hate, we can all learn something from the way Istanbul treats is beloved feline residents.
