My Beloved Istanbul

The "Gözbebeğim" series is an insatiable feast for city lovers. To turn its pages with a different excitement each time, to immerse oneself in the photos as if remembering an old love... Or for those with a traveler's spirit, who wish to rediscover the city they live in each time.

This book is for you to thoroughly see and tour Istanbul... A visual journey to Istanbul's present and recent past... With information and legends that read like poetry.

From the Press...

Hürriyet Newspaper, Doğan Hızlan's column about the book "Gözbebeğim İstanbul" dated Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Taking a tour of Istanbul with a poet and a photographer

My readers will remember. I recommend visiting a city with a good poet, writer, or photographer. Ordinary guides (tour guides) seem very cold to me; the soul of that city is almost destroyed in their pages. When I picked up the first book of Boyut Kitapları's new "Gözbebeğim" series, I realized how much truth there was in this comment. I read and saw the first two books of the "Gözbebeğim" series. This series will continue with Pera, Antalya, and the Aegean. Regular writers will write the text, and good photographers will provide the visuals. On the cover of "Gözbebeğim İstanbul," it says: Text/Poetry: Refik Durbaş, photographs: Şemsi Güner. Bülent Özükan's introduction provides preliminary information about the series: "The 'Gözbebeğim' series is an insatiable visual feast for city lovers. For turning its pages with a different excitement each time, for immersing oneself in the photos as if remembering an old love. Or for those with a traveler's spirit, who wish to rediscover the city they live in and love each time."

Refik Durbaş is a poet who can capture the most subtle details of Istanbul's sensibility and transform them into good poetry. He provides examples in this book. Together with Şemsi Güner's photographs of Istanbul, you can rediscover the city you thought you knew, visited, and saw. For me, the greatness of an artist is tied to this point. A few lines from the book's first poem, "The Dimple of Istanbul":

'Refik in the image of the wind

Durbaş in the mirror of the water

Istanbul in the image of the wind and water'
'All the winds of the world / Meet in Taksim'

Refik Durbaş says. As you wander through Istanbul's neighborhoods, there's a unique charm, a sanctity that enlivens the soul. The pigeons of Eyüp Sultan, its opening, the pigeons themselves, and the woman feeding the pigeons, both together create a dramatic study of Istanbul. The taste of today cannot be savored by reading the much-written history of Istanbul; in my opinion, didactic information is what most disturbs cities. Yet, these are the lives, people, sacred and ordinary individuals within history. All of them create the canvas of a city. The Maiden's Tower in the sea of imagination shows how well the combination of image and poetry suits Istanbul.

The "Gözbebeğim" series is an insatiable feast for city lovers. To turn its pages with a different excitement each time, to immerse oneself in the photos as if remembering an old love... Or for those with a traveler's spirit, who wish to rediscover the city they live in and love each time.
This book is for you to thoroughly see and tour Istanbul... A visual journey to Istanbul's present and recent past... With information and legends that read like poetry.

From the Press...
Hürriyet Newspaper, Doğan Hızlan's column from July 19, 2005, Tuesday , concerning the book "Gözbebeğim İstanbul"

A tour of Istanbul with a poet and a photographer My readers will not be forgotten. I recommend visiting a city with a good poet, writer, or photographer. Ordinary guides seem very cold to me, as if the soul of that city has been destroyed in their pages. While reserving the first book of Boyut Kitapları's new series "Gözbebeğim", I realized the high degree of reality in this comment. I read and saw the first two books of the "Gözbebeğim" series. This series will continue with Pera, Antalya, and the Aegean. Regular authors will write the texts, and good photographers will provide the visuals. On the cover of "Gözbebeğim İstanbul," it is written in two parts: Text/Poetry: Refik Durbaş, Photographs: Şemsi Güner. Bülent Özükan's introductory text contains the preliminary information that the series is registered: "The 'Gözbebeğimiz' series is an insatiable visual feast for city lovers. To turn the pages with a different excitement each time, to immerse oneself in the photographs as if remembering an old lover. Or for travelers who are adventurous enough to think of rediscovering the city they live in and love each time." * * * Refik Durbaş is a poet who can perceive the finest details of Istanbul's sensibility and express them in good poetry. He provides examples of this in this book. With Şemsi Güner's Istanbul photographs, you can rediscover the city you thought you knew, visited, and saw. The greatness of the artist is tied to this point for me. A few lines from the first poem of the book, "Gamzesi İstanbul'un":