Wherever you go in Istanbul, you see cats. A new documentary explores the
charms and challenges of their urban habitat.
\u00a9 Termite Films<\/p><\/div>\n

How a Cat Kit and a Movie Keep\u00a0Cultural Heritage Alive<\/h2>\n

They greet you from doorways, welcome you to parks. If you are kind, they may join you for a stroll. Others watch shyly from rooftops and balconies.<\/p>\n

Still others enjoy people watching from the windows of businesses they have adopted.<\/p>\n

The Cat in the Hat (Shop): Some street cats find homes in
Istanbul’s commercial districts. Not all are so lucky.
\u00a9 Joyce McGreevy<\/p><\/div>\n

Then there are those who snooze through it all. Having located a\u00a0cozy spot,<\/em> they catnap\u00a0amid a human population of 20\u00a0million.<\/p>\n

Born to be mild:\u00a0 Many Istanbul municipalities have animal care centers
to ease the rigors of street life.
\u00a9 Joyce McGreevy<\/p><\/div>\n

Oh, I see<\/strong>: They are the street cats of Istanbul. Welcome to\u00a0\u201cCatstantinople.\u201d Here, when a black cat crosses your path, it’s not bad luck; it’s an encounter with cultural heritage.<\/p>\n

Cats in Turkish Tradition<\/h4>\n

The Bosphorus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. Just beyond lie the
Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean.
\u00a9 silverjohn\/ iStock<\/p><\/div>\n

Istanbul itself stretches out like a cat across a sunlit expanse\u2014a cat with nine lives and then some. At 7,000 years old, the world\u2019s only transcontinental city straddles\u00a0the European and Asian sides of the Bosphorus strait.<\/p>\n

Throughout centuries of tumultuous change, the cats\u2019 rule over the city has remained a constant.<\/p>\n

Detail from Hagia Sophia, once a basilica, then a mosque, now a heritage site–and one more home to cats.
\u00a9 Joyce McGreevy<\/p><\/div>\n

Cats have a special place in religious tradition. The prophet Muhammad was fond of cats and advocated for their protection.<\/p>\n

Legend has it that when the prophet stroked the back and forehead of one feline, cats everywhere gained\u00a0the ability to always land on their feet. Some people associate\u00a0stripes on a cat\u00a0with Muhammad\u2019s gesture.<\/p>\n

Today\u00a0Turks\u00a0of every belief system treat cats as honored neighbors. How honored? When President Obama toured Hagia Sophia in 2013, resident cat Gli was there to greet him. Like a cat with the cream, Gli\u2019s been lapping up publicity ever since.<\/p>\n

Respect for animal welfare is part of the Turkish culture and even has legal standing. In 2004, Turkey passed laws \u201cto ensure that animals are afforded a comfortable life . . . and are protected from harm in the best manner possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kits for Cats<\/h4>\n

Even as legislative approaches continue to be debated, thousands of cats have been humanely caught, vaccinated, neutered or spayed, and released. Residents bring food, stop to pet them, and often adopt them. But still there was a need to shelter cats from harsh weather.<\/p>\n

Found cats are given a tattoo or microchip
before being released.
\u00a9 Joyce McGreevy<\/p><\/div>\n

Now\u00a0cats are getting help\u00a0from a furniture designer, who translated personal concern for animal welfare into action.\u00a0In Ankara, designer Bahad\u0131r Yarg\u0131n of Adore Mobilya,\u00a0a Turkish furniture manufacturer, began to\u00a0recycle scrap wood into easy-assembly pet houses.<\/p>\n

For the equivalent of about three dollars to cover shipping, one Turkish furniture company helped house<\/span> thousands of cats.
\u00a9 Adore Mobilya<\/p><\/div>\n

Adore Mobilya then provided kits to the public for the cost of shipping, enabling\u00a0anyone to build shelters for pets and strays. \u00a0The response was\u00a0enthusiastic. The first pet houses sold out and more\u00a0releases are planned.<\/p>\n

Outside the offices of Baraka Consulting Group, Reha Abi and Bilge Topa\u00e7\u00a0assemble a pet house,
part of the effort to help Istanbul’s homeless cats.
\u00a9 Joyce McGreevy<\/p><\/div>\n

City Cats in Cinema<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Soon the cats of Istanbul may come to a movie theatre near you. Director\u00a0Ceyda Torun, who shares Yarg\u0131n’s personal concern for animal welfare, has devoted a feature-length film to\u00a0the stray cats.<\/p>\n

As she\u00a0explains,\u00a0Nine Lives: Cats in Istanbul<\/em> \u201cfocuses on the millions of street cats that live in one of the world\u2019s most populated cities and the people who love and care for them. It is a profile of an ancient city and its unique people as seen through the eyes of the most mysterious and beloved animal that humans have ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arrayed like musical notes, cats like these provide the pulse beat of Istanbul street life.
Kira Fontana’s film score for Nine Lives (Kedi)<\/em> captures that feline rhythm<\/a><\/span>.
\u00a9 Termite Films<\/p><\/div>\n

Torun, who studied\u00a0Anthropology at\u00a0Boston University, grew up in Istanbul. She says her childhood was \u201cinfinitely less lonesome than it would have been if it weren\u2019t for cats. They were my friends and confidants and I missed their presence in all the other cities I ever lived in.\u201d<\/p>\n

That includes\u00a0Los Angeles, where Torun\u00a0co-founded Termite Films with cinematographer Charlie Wupperman. For his part, Wupperman never imagined he \u201cwould one day be lying on the streets of Istanbul getting on eye level with cats, human shoes, and car tires in order to shoot a documentary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine Lives\u00a0<\/em>makes its U.S. debut in Salem, Massachusetts, on March 6 at\u00a0the Salem Film Festival<\/a>. Wider distribution is planned.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u201ctails of the city\u201d beguile local\u00a0audiences every day as the street cats pad their way through Istanbul. Now the\u00a0hope is that the creative efforts of Adore Mobilya and Termite Films can preserve this aspect of Turkey’s cultural heritage\u00a0with\u00a0purrfect cattitude.<\/p>\n

A street sign in Istanbul reminds drivers to watch for four-legged pedestrians.
\u00a9 Joyce McGreevy<\/p><\/div>\n

Watch\u00a0a trailer from <\/em>Nine Lives: Cats in Istanbul here<\/a> and get\u00a0updates<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

See more\u00a0Adore Mobilya<\/a> pet houses for cats here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Keep current on the cats of Istanbul on Facebook<\/a> and Tumblr<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Comment<\/a> on this post below, or inspire insight with your own\u00a0OIC Moment\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":24325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,513],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heritage-culture","category-turkey-mappoints"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24319"}],"version-history":[{"count":67,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40136,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24319\/revisions\/40136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}