Istanbul’s historic baths keep hammam tradition alive

Istanbul’s historic baths keep hammam tradition alive
For centuries, hammams were central to Ottoman society, and while they fell out of use in Turkiye with the advent of running water. (AFP)
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Updated 13 November 2024
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Istanbul’s historic baths keep hammam tradition alive

Istanbul’s historic baths keep hammam tradition alive
  • For centuries, hammams were central to Ottoman society, and while they fell out of use in Turkiye with the advent of running water

ISTANBUL: For centuries, hammams were central to Ottoman society, and while they fell out of use in Turkiye with the advent of running water, many are being restored to revive an ancient ritual bathing tradition.
Often featured in older Turkish films, hammam scenes are highly entertaining, with women not only bathing but enjoying these historical bathhouses as a place to socialize, eat, drink and even dance.
Last year, the 500-year-old Zeyrek Cinili Hammam — built during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent by the celebrated Ottoman architect Sinan — reopened to the public after a painstaking 13-year restoration.
Alongside a functioning hammam, it also houses a museum explaining its history and the Ottoman ritual of bathing.
“The restoration somehow turned into an archaeological dig” that gave insight into how the hammam once looked, museum manager Beril Gur Tanyeli told AFP.
“Around 3,000 pieces of missing tiles were found which helped solve the puzzle of why this hammam was called Cinili” — Turkish for “covered with tiles.”
The beautiful Iznik tiles that once lined its walls were exclusively produced for the hammam, with no other bathhouse having such a rich interior, museum officials say.
Although most were damaged by fires or earthquakes, or sold off to European antique dealers in the 19th century, some are still visible.
The restoration also exposed several Byzantine cisterns beneath the hammam.
“Sinan the Architect is believed to have built the hammam on top of these cisterns to use them as a foundation and as a source of water,” Tanyeli said.

In ancient Rome, bathing culture was very important and it was “traditional for traders to wash before entering the city, especially in baths at the (city) entrance,” archaeologist Gurol Tali told AFP.
During the Ottoman empire, bathing culture had its golden age, with the ritual symbolising both bodily cleanliness and purity of soul.
In Islam, a Muslim must wash before praying, in an act known as ablution.
Hammams were also a place for celebrating births and weddings.
“Baths were used not only for cleansing the body but for socialising, relaxing, healing and even celebrating important life events,” with special rites for brides, soldiers and those who had undergone circumcision, Tali said.
Since households at the time did not have running water, hammams were an essential part of life until the 19th century, with census figures from 1638 showing there were 14,536 public and private baths in Istanbul, the museum says.
And that tradition has survived until today.
“You come here to get clean and leave handsome,” said Zafer Akgul, who was visiting one of the city’s hammams in the city with his son, telling AFP he visited often, particularly during religious feasts or for a wedding.
“We don’t want this tradition to die.”

That is where Istanbul’s ancient hammams can serve a bigger purpose, Tali said.
“Restoring historical baths in Istanbul and putting them to use may be the most effective way to transfer cultural heritage to future generations,” he said.
Another nearby bath house from the same era, the Beyazid II Hammam, underwent years of restoration and reopened as a museum in 2015.
One of the largest hammams in the city at the time, some historians believe it was where a notorious male bathing attendant, or “tellak,” called Halil plotted an uprising that in 1730 overthrew Sultan Ahmed III.
For Manolya Gokgoz, who does publicity for Cemberlitas Hammam, another 16th-century bathhouse built by the royal architect Sinan, the connection is more personal: her grandmother worked there as a “natir” — a woman’s bathing attendant.
“When I was two or three years old, I would go to the baths in the morning, wash and play by myself until the evening without getting bored,” she told AFP.
For Gokgoz, the tradition lives on — although mostly among tourists, which for her is a shame.
“In the past, we used to go to the hammam with our mothers and grandmothers. Now 70 percent of our customers are foreign tourists and 30 percent locals,” she said.
These days, the hammam experience — which lets bathers relax in hot, warm or cool pools alongside extras like massages or peeling — is quite expensive, with the basic service costing around $100.
Celebrities, both Turkish and international, often visit Cemberlitas, with the last being Spanish actor Pedro Alonso — the character Berlin in the Netflix hit “Money Heist” — who visited in September.
“Hammam is not a luxury, but a need,” Gokgoz said.
“Yes, it’s not like in the past because we have hot water at our fingertips, but we need to keep this tradition alive.”


TikTok is inching closer to a potential ban in the US. So what's next?

TikTok is inching closer to a potential ban in the US. So what's next?
Updated 07 December 2024
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TikTok is inching closer to a potential ban in the US. So what's next?

TikTok is inching closer to a potential ban in the US. So what's next?

TikTok's future in the U.S. appeared uncertain on Friday after a federal appeals court rejected a legal challenge to a law that requires the social media platform to cut ties with its China-based parent company or be banned by mid-January.
A panel of three judges on The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously that the law withstood constitutional scrutiny, rebuffing arguments from the two companies that the statute violated their rights and the rights of TikTok users in the U.S.
The government has said it wants ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, to divest its stakes. But if it doesn't and the platform goes away, it would have a seismic impact on the lives of content creators who rely on the platform for income as well as users who use it for entertainment and connection.
Here are some details on the ruling and what could happen next:
What does the ruling say?
In their lawsuit, TikTok and ByteDance, which is also a plaintiff in the case, had challenged the law on various fronts, arguing in part that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and was an unconstitutional bill of attainder that unfairly targeted the two companies.
But the court sided with attorneys for the Justice Department who said that the government was attempting to address national security concerns and the way in which it chose to do so did not violate the constitution.
The Justice Department has argued in court that TikTok poses a national security risk due to its connections to China. Officials say that Chinese authorities can compel ByteDance to hand over information on TikTok's U.S. patrons or use the platform to spread, or suppress, information. However, the U.S. hasn't publicly provided examples of that happening.
The appeals court ruling, written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, said the law was “carefully crafted to deal only with control by a foreign adversary." The judges also rejected the claim that the statute was an unlawful bill of attainder or a taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. Furthermore, Ginsburg wrote the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government is not looking to “suppress content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok.
What happens next?
TikTok and ByteDance are expected to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, but it's unclear whether the court will take up the case.
TikTok indicated in a statement on Friday the two companies are preparing to take their case to high court, saying the Supreme Court has “an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech."
"We expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” a company spokesperson said.
Alan Morrison, a professor at The George Washington University Law School, said he expects the Supreme Court to take up the case because of the novelty of the issues raised in the lawsuit. If that happens, attorneys for the two companies still have to convince the court to grant them an emergency stay that will prevent the government from enforcing the Jan. 19 divestiture deadline stipulated in the law, Morrison said.
Such a move could drag out the process until the Justices make a ruling.
Tiffany Cianci, a TikTok content creator who has supported the platform, said she was not shocked about the outcome of the court's ruling on Friday because lower courts typically defer to the executive branch on these types of cases. She believes the company will have a stronger case at the Supreme Court.
“I believe that the next stages are more likely to produce a victory for TikTokers and for TikTok as a whole,” Cianci said.
What about Trump?
Another wild card is President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but said during the recent presidential campaign that he is now against such action.
The Trump transition team has not offered details on how Trump plans to carry out his pledge to “save TikTok." But spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement last month that he plans to “deliver” on his campaign promises.
After Trump takes office on Jan. 20th, it would fall on his Justice Department to enforce the law and punish any potential violators. Penalties would apply to any app stores that would violate a prohibition on TikTok and to internet hosting services which would be barred from supporting it.
Some have speculated that Trump could ask his Justice Department to abstain from enforcing the law. But tech companies like Apple and Google, which offer TikTok's app on their app stores, would then have to trust that the administration would not come after them for any violations.
Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said enforcement discretion — or executive orders — can not override existing law, leaving Trump with “limited room for unilateral action."
There are other things Trump could potentially do. It's possible he could invoke provisions of the law that allow the president to determine whether a sale or a similar transaction frees TikTok from “foreign adversary” control. Another option is to urge Congress to repeal the law. But that too would require support from congressional Republicans who have overwhelmingly supported the prospect of getting TikTok out of the hands of a Chinese company.
In a statement issued Friday, Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said he was “optimistic that President Trump will facilitate an American takeover of TikTok” and allow its continued use in the United States.
Is anyone trying to buy TikTok?
ByteDance has said it won't sell TikTok. And even if it wanted to, a sale of the proprietary algorithm that powers TikTok is likely to get blocked under Chinese export controls that the country issued in 2020.
That means if TikTok is sold without the algorithm, its likely that the buyer would only purchase a shell of the platform that doesn't contain the technology that made the app a cultural powerhouse.
Still, some investors, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in buying it.
This week, a spokesperson for McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, which aims to protect online privacy, said participants in their bid have made informal commitments of more than $20 billion in capital. The spokesperson did not disclose the identity of the participants.


Connecticut court upholds $965 million verdict against Alex Jones in Sandy Hook

Connecticut court upholds $965 million verdict against Alex Jones in Sandy Hook
Updated 07 December 2024
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Connecticut court upholds $965 million verdict against Alex Jones in Sandy Hook

Connecticut court upholds $965 million verdict against Alex Jones in Sandy Hook

HARTFORD, Connecticut: The Connecticut Appellate Court on Friday affirmed a $965 million verdict from 2022 against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, determining there’s “sufficient evidence” to support the damages awarded to relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims and an FBI agent.
In its unanimous opinion, the court cited the “traumatic threats and harassment” the families endured “stemming from the lies, as propagated by the defendants, that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.”
“Our review of the record reveals that there was sufficient evidence to support the $965,000,000 in compensatory damages awarded by the jury,” according to the 62-page decision. It marks the largest jury verdict in Connecticut history.
The appellate court did grant Jones a $150 million reprieve. It determined the plaintiffs “failed to assert a legally viable” claim under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and that $150 million in punitive damages awarded by the lower court must be vacated, noting the plaintiffs alleged injury came from false language and not from speech related to advertising, marketing or the sale of goods.
An email was sent seeking comment from Jones’ attorney.
Jones now owes a total of roughly $1.2 billion, counting the $965 million to the Connecticut families and nearly $50 million awarded by a Texas jury to the parents of a Sandy Hook child who was killed.
Jones filed for personal bankruptcy in 2022, and the sale of his Infowars platform is part of that case. A bid by The Onion satirical news outlet to buy Infowars is scheduled to return Monday to a Texas courtroom, where a judge will be deciding whether a bankruptcy auction was properly run. Jones alleges collusion and fraud.
Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families hailed the Connecticut appellate court’s ruling on Friday as an overall victory. Jones can appeal the decision to the Connecticut State Supreme Court.
“Today, Alex Jones’s effort to overturn the jury’s historic verdict against him and his corrupt business, Infowars, was unanimously rejected by the Connecticut Appellate Court. The jury’s $965 million rebuke of Jones will stand, and the families who have fought valiantly for years have brought Alex Jones yet another step closer to true justice,” the lawyers said in a statement.
Jones repeatedly told his millions of followers the 2012 massacre that killed 20 first graders and six educators was staged by “crisis actors” to enact more gun control.
The appellate court also determined that a lower court “properly exercised its discretion” in finding Jones and his Infowars’ parent company Free Speech Systems LLC., liable for damages by default for failing to cooperate with court rules on sharing evidence.


Berlin’s new panda twins have been named. Meet Leni and Lotti, or Meng Hao and Meng Tian

Berlin’s new panda twins have been named. Meet Leni and Lotti, or Meng Hao and Meng Tian
Updated 06 December 2024
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Berlin’s new panda twins have been named. Meet Leni and Lotti, or Meng Hao and Meng Tian

Berlin’s new panda twins have been named. Meet Leni and Lotti, or Meng Hao and Meng Tian
  • The two female cubs, born at the Berlin Zoo on Aug. 22, were introduced Friday as Meng Hao and Meng Tian (“beautiful dreams” and “sweet dreams”)

BERLIN: Germany’s new panda twins now have names — or rather, two names apiece.
The two female cubs, born at the Berlin Zoo on Aug. 22, were introduced Friday as Meng Hao and Meng Tian (“beautiful dreams” and “sweet dreams”). Alternatively, they also answer to the very Berlin names of Leni and Lotti — tributes to Berlin native Marlene Dietrich and the German capital’s Charlottenburg district.
The pair, who lay on their bellies on a mattress and peered at photographers as the Chinese ambassador to Germany and Berlin’s mayor unveiled their names, are the second pair of giant pandas born in Germany.
The first were their elder brothers Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, who became far better known by the German names Pit and Paule. The cubs were born in August 2019 and were a star attraction in Berlin until they were flown to China nearly a year ago — a trip that was contractually agreed from the start but delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
All are the offspring of mother Meng Meng and father Jiao Qing, who arrived in Berlin in 2017.
Zoo director Andreas Knieriem said the youngsters are growing fast, putting on nearly 100 grams (3.5 ounces) per day and now weighing in at almost 6 kilos (13.2 pounds) each.
Giant pandas have difficulty breeding and births are particularly welcomed. There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and a few hundred in captivity worldwide.
Meng Meng was artificially inseminated in March. Female pandas are fertile only for a few days per year at most.
China gifted friendly nations with its unofficial mascot for decades as part of a “panda diplomacy″ policy. The country now loans pandas to zoos on commercial terms.
Visitors to the zoo are currently able to see one of the cubs for an hour each day. From late January both will be on view with their mother, the zoo said.


World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74

World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74
Updated 06 December 2024
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World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74

World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74
  • Wisdom returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and laid what experts estimate may be her 60th egg
  • Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, was first banded as an adult in 1956 and has raised as many as 30 chicks

The oldest known wild bird in the world has laid an egg at the ripe age of about 74, her first in four years, US wildlife officials said.
The long-winged seabird named Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago and laid what experts estimate may be her 60th egg, the Pacific Region of the US Fish & Wildlife Service said in a Facebook post this week.
Wisdom and her mate, Akeakamai, had returned to the atoll in the Pacific Ocean to lay and hatch eggs since 2006. Laysan albatrosses mate for life and lay one egg per year. But Akeakamai has not been seen for several years and Wisdom began interacting with another male when she returned last week, officials said.
“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge said in a statement. Every year, millions of seabirds return to the refuge to nest and raise their young.
Albatross parents take turns incubating an egg for about seven months. Chicks fly out to sea about five to six months after hatching. They spend most of their lives flying over the ocean and feeding on squid and fish eggs.
Wisdom was first banded as an adult in 1956 and has raised as many as 30 chicks, Plissner said.
The typical lifespan of a Laysan albatross is 68 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.


New York museum unveils ‘Apex’ — an almost complete Stegosaurus

New York museum unveils ‘Apex’ — an almost complete Stegosaurus
Updated 06 December 2024
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New York museum unveils ‘Apex’ — an almost complete Stegosaurus

New York museum unveils ‘Apex’ — an almost complete Stegosaurus

NEW YORK: The American Museum of Natural History revealed the identity of its latest resident on Thursday — “Apex,” one of the most complete specimens ever discovered of the plant-eating dinosaur Stegosaurus, known for the upright plates on its back and a spiky tail.
To excited gasps from an audience of school children, the museum pulled back a beige curtain to reveal the 11-foot (3.4-meter) tall, 20-foot (6-meter) long skeleton of the Jurassic Period dinosaur.
“People are really excited about this fossil because Stegosaurus is an iconic dinosaur,” said the museum’s dinosaur curator Roger Benson.
Stegosaurus walked on four legs and lived in North America around 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. Its fossils were first discovered in the 1870s.
“Although it was a herbivore, Stegosaurus wasn’t like a cow or a sheep,” Benson said. “It’s a herbivore that could look after itself. It has these wicked spikes on its tail. It has plates along its back.”
Those would have been useful as protection against meat-eating dinosaurs like Allosaurus.
This Stegosaurus fossil was found in Colorado and fetched a record $44.6 million at a Sotheby’s auction in July. The buyer has loaned it to the New York museum, one of the leading natural history museums in the United States.
“Everyone has their own favorite dinosaur, but Stegosaurus is up there in the top five. So it’s hard not to get excited about a really complete, large individual of this animal,” Benson said.