♪ >> anthony: modern turkey was founded in 1923 on the principles of secular democratic statehood after centuries of empire. >> reporter: it has been the most turbulent year in a decade of turkey's political history. >> anthony: turkey had set a new course one that many hope would carry it into the european union. >> reporter: there's clearly a significant portion of the turkish population that's not happy with the policies of the democratically elected government. >> anthony: but things have changed. they are changing.

>> reporter: you get clashes erupting. demonstrators throwing rocks. >> anthony: and what happens next has implications far beyond turkey. ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la,, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la ♪ [ chanting ]

[ glass shatters ] >> anthony: it has been turbulent year for turkey, and i arrive in istanbul at the moment of a critical election. the question on everyone's mind is whether the current president and his ruling party will win a large enough majority to change the constitution, potentially allowing him to stay in power indefinitely. ♪ these have been good times for some, particularly in the construction and development business, and fearful ones for others. they are particularly concerned about what happens next, for instance, in the kurdish parts of town. [ chanting ]

[ clock ticking ] >> reporter: polls are opening, turkey's voters choose a new parliament, which could lead to big changes in the country's political system. the ruling justice and development party is expected to take most of the seats. but how much power the president actually has will be determined by the success or failure of the kurdish party. [ cheers ] >> anthony: the hdp, originally a kurdish political party, has sought to unite the disparate voices calling for change, in response to 13 years of what is essentially been one party rule by the akp.

so history, whatever it might be, is about to happen. >> reporter: just in the past hour, polls have closed in the country's parliamentary elections. [ clock ticking ] voters in turkey have just shaken up their country's political landscape in a major way. they said no to president recep tayyip erdogan and his push for more power over the constitution. >> anthony: the ruling akp party did not win the majority the president had hoped for. in fact, they lost seats in parliament, and for the first time, the pro-kurdish party gained enough votes to earn a real voice in the government. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> esra: we are at the very tip of istanbul, next to the black sea. so the ships that are going by here, they're basically going to russia. >> anthony: i meet an old friend, esra, for my first meal

back in country. >> esra: i know you like your fish with the head and the tail. >> anthony: i do, so this is perfect. >> esra: i ordered some raki. >> anthony: oh, that makes me so happy. >> esra: yes, which is our national drink. it is aniseed and -- >> anthony: i am familiar with this drink, all too familiar. cheers. >> esra: welcome back. >> anthony: so since i last saw you, which was in 2000 -- >> esra: -- 9. >> anthony: 2009, wow, long time ago. so, istanbul looks a little different than last time i was here. it looks a little more like every other city. >> esra: yeah. well, construction. >> anthony: there seems to be a lot of that going on. >> esra: yes. >> anthony: your president likes to build stuff, he likes to pour concrete. >> esra: because it keeps the economy going. turkey's so much politicized since the last time you came. like, after 2011, the daily life issues, like how many

children you should have, advising women not to laugh out loud in public, things like this were actually suggested by the government. >> anthony: right, do you think this is coming from genuine ideological religious place or is this a political calculation? >> esra: i think it's genuine. >> anthony: you're telling me that the current leadership is, in his heart, genuinely opposed to alcohol? women laughing in public? >> esra: maybe, i don't feel comfortable answering that question. >> anthony: okay. turkey's most famous politician, recep tayyip erdogan. he is the power, and has been the power in one form or

another, for more than a decade. he's the face of turkey's ruling justice and development party known as the akp. erdogan has, in recent years, made islamist politics mainstream, and while remaining very, very popular in this extremely polarized nation, cracked down hard on media, political opposition, free speech and, of course, demonstrations. in 2013, the almost revolution in turkey happened. a protest to contest the proposed demolition of istanbul's gezi park resulted in a brutal crackdown by the police. in response, ordinary turks unconnected by any particular ideology poured into the streets with the whole world watching on social media. they, too, were met with force. in the end, erdogan remained firmly in control, and there

were repercussions for many who had supported the protests. from that point on, media, social media, even open discussion of issues or events became treated as hostile acts by foreign enemies. ♪ autocrats in general are not famous for their sense of humor, so it's no surprise that comedians in turkey, like deniz and her fiance kaan, walk a perilous line. are these good times to be a comedian in turkey? >> kaan: it's definitely one of the best, best, times, because our former prime minister is my support for a living. >> deniz: we don't use the names. we just call him "the greatness" or, you know --

[ speaking foreign language ] >> kaan: i guess they are running finals. >> anthony: the finals? >> kaan: yes. >> anthony: but all weight classes. but it's basically greco-roman wrestling just greased up. as i understand it, you can't choke with two hands, only one. >> kaan: yes. >> deniz: but you can just slip your hands -- >> anthony: --right down into some greasy ass crack. >> deniz: and grab whatever you find. >> anthony: that's okay. ♪ tell me something. i want to know, what are ♪ ♪ the rules of the game ♪ turkish oil wrestling, a big

freaking salad, covered with oiled men in leather pants giving each other spirited and prolonged reach arounds. oh, jeez. can we get rights to the barry white greatest hits record or diana ross "love hangover?" or is that too obvious? i like to be respectful of ancient tradition, but the jokes write themselves, and they have what? they have ropes inside, handles? or where do i get a pair of those pants? those are some super freaky pants. >> deniz: and did you see the golden belt? it's good, too. >> anthony: wow, look, it's got to be, because i mean the pants are awesome. imagine what the belt looks like. >> deniz: yes. ♪

[ speaking foreign language ] >> anthony: does he stop yelling at some point? >> kaan: the announcer called jasger. >> anthony: yeah. >> kaan: and in slang, jasger means person who talks too much and is too loud. [ speaking foreign language ] >> kaan: it's time for political ads. what's changed since your last visit? >> anthony: obviously, the mood has changed a lot, which is weird, because everything seems to be going so well. things seem to be getting more tolerant. >> kaan: tolerance level is so low these days. people taking sides don't like the other one. these people don't like our kind. >> anthony: so what happens if someone doesn't like your joke?

somebody in a powerful position does not like your comedy? what happens? >> deniz: depending on degree, how much he doesn't like you, how much he's offended -- >> anthony: let's say he's really offended. >> deniz: you can go to jail for being, you know, terrorist, or -- >> anthony: aiding and abetting the enemies of the state. >> deniz: yes, being enemy of the state is most common, you know, thing you can do right now in turkey. [ speaking foreign language ] they are asking for more oil. >> kaan: more oil, and immediately. mornin'.

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>> anthony: building boom or building bubble? architect and city planner murat germen has been capturing istanbul's construction boom with his camera. he employs a unique method of compressing panoramas to create a striking reimaging of cityscapes reflecting perhaps more of the reality than a straight photo could. >> murat: i've been following what's been happening in istanbul because it's my hometown, and what's happening is that the new government is basing the supposedly booming economy totally on construction. so what they did is they started to build high-rise housing, shopping mall, and roads and all that, but not necessarily buildings that are related to the making of culture. so this is all this construction is related to consumption. >> anthony: well, are all these places needed at whatever income level? will somebody be living in these buildings? >> murat: that's a very good

question. i'm asking the same question. >> anthony: yeah, first thing's first. we'll save the world later. >> murat: this is pide, by the way, and it's like a turkish version of pizza, let's say. >> anthony: pide has some similarities. i mean, there's cheese in it, dough. but it's more like a calzone, maybe. i don't know. it's an efficient delivery vehicle for, in this case, ground meat, cheese and onions. a not-so-little torpedo straight from i was gonna say flavor town, but no, that would be wrong. i wanna see what you do with this. i wanna see how you eat this. and what do you do with? oh, you dip in the egg? you pour it in or?

>> murat: yeah, yeah, pour it. exactly. >> anthony: mm-hmm. >> murat: this is cholesterol bomb we call it. ♪ >> anthony: there's a remarkable lack of sentimentality about really one of the most uniquely glorious looking spaces anywhere. why don't they care? >> murat: i agree there's a lack of sentimentality and there's also a lack of a vision, i believe, long-term vision. we have very short-term visions, mostly based on money-making. >> anthony: when people look at the work you do set in istanbul, what do you want them to see? >> murat: first of all, i really value the sustainability of a particular culture. i want my work to show, "hey, look, this is what we had." i think we are already losing

it, so why don't we stop here and maybe consider doing something else? ♪ >> anthony: persembe pazari, long home to tradesmen, greeks, jews and armenians, groups whose populations are these days are a tiny fraction of what they once were. this neighborhood, like many in istanbul, is slated for redevelopment in the name of urban renewal. wow, look at that, it's a lot of food. sezar and his family have been running a restaurant here for nearly 20 years. ♪

>> sezar: the way that we make the food it's our own language, that's the whole idea about it. >> anthony: so your family's armenian, is the food armenian? >> sezar: yes, this is my mom's food, whatever we eat at home. >> anthony: authentic esnafs or tradesmen's restaurants are getting harder and harder to find. most are family owned businesses. the the kind of place you can get a classic home-style meal of traditional dishes. you're clearly romantic. do you think there is a place in modern istanbul for romantics, or will they slowly be crushed by modernity? >> sezar: almost all the protestors, they were at gezi, they were romantics. they killed off people. they use real guns, but they will still continue to protest nothing else.

>> anthony: so what's the future of armenians in turkey? will there be more armenians in istanbul in 20 years or fewer? >> sezar: of course it will be less. >> anthony: less? >> sezar: yes. >> anthony: this turn towards a more conservative or islamist, is this a political calculation or do you think this generally, genuinely how people feel now? >> sezar: it's the way people feel now, 'cause of the way that the president, the way that he talks. it's not only with political issue, it's the reality itself. i don't know what he has in mind, our president, but somehow he let people fight with, you know, hate. but i believe that, hate will be, you know, it will make our end soon.

that's what i'm afraid of, that's why i'm telling you that young generation armenians they will definitely leave this country. >> anthony: wow, i hope you're wrong. i like to be, i mean, i'm not really an optimistic person, but i hope you're wrong about istanbul, because it's an amazing place. >> sezar: i hope you will be the one who's right. ♪ so you better let him know ♪ that if he messed up you gotta hit em up ♪ lime-a-rita splash. the refreshing margarita in a bottle. how do robots work? ♪ you need a team... ...working together... ♪ ...doing all kinds of jobs. and the best place to find the job that's right for you

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♪ >> ihsan: allah, give me help, and not crash my car, not today, maybe tomorrow. i have to pass this bus if i don't pass this bus, no! >> anthony: it is a long held belief that if you want to know the real deal, what's really good about a town, if you want to know where to find the good stuff, you ask a cab driver. [ speaking foreign language ] >> ihsan: i don't know wrong way, right way. life is life, white is white, take it easy. >> anthony: i don't know if that's true, not in my town anyway but in istanbul, i know a cabdriver, my old friend, ihsan. >> anthony: hello, my friend. >> ihsan: after all those years, to meet you again. >> anthony: what a coincidence.

>> ihsan: welcome, nice, i love that. >> anthony: so, how are things in istanbul? it looks very different. they're building stuff everywhere. >> ihsan: i don't know what happen, but a lot of hotel, a lot of shopping center, more restaurant open, more disco open. >> anthony: more discos? >> ihsan: more discos. >> anthony: i thought this is a conservative government >> ihsan: the government conservatives but people and they have to shake, they have to drink life's too short. [ speaking foreign language ] most people ask me, "did you make any accidents?" and i say, "yes, i kill two people, three people hospital" and then i pass cemetery, i say, "this is ishan's section. they go, "really?" how can you ask the taxi driver, "did you make any accident?" >> anthony: right. >> ihsan: again, we cross the galata bridge.

i love it here. look at this city here, santa sophia there, new malls, golden horn. i love this city. yehaw! come on everybody, ihsan has gone crazy! taxi driver is nice job. i love this job because you meet every time new people. >> anthony: right. >> ihsan: and on the way you never get upset. >> anthony: right. [ speaking foreign language ] >> ihsan: i wish i dance, but i dance belly dance. ♪

♪ enough, enough. wow, what a-- come on. everybody say this not normal. i study about ottoman, how to read learn in ottoman languages. when you ask, "why ihsan to learn this?" because i want to read history original. >> anthony: right, probably not while driving though. >> ihsan: yeah, yeah, not driving but traffic already stop. if i talk too much, i boring and i go. take another taxi, cause i talk too much. [ speaking foreign language ] this is my home area. >> anthony: oh yeah, you live in, uh, this neighborhood?

>> ihsan: yeah, we call this area lokanta. >> anthony: so this is a local favorite of yours, this restaurant? >> ihsan: this restaurant i know since 30 years. ♪ >> anthony: so it's cow foot, tripes. >> ihsan: tripes. >> anthony: very nice. that looks good. man, this is just delicious. are the young people more conservative or less conservative? >> ihsan: my daughter married religious person and she has a scarf. another daughter, young, and 18 years old, short and moderate. they walk together. one is scarf, one is not. >> anthony: right. >> ihsan: maybe, one day, you invite me america.

i will belly dance on the american main road, shaking my body. >> anthony: done. i think you probably get arrested for that. you inherit lots of traits from your family. my ancestor, lady beatrice, introduced the elizabethan ruff. great-grandfather horatio went west during the gold rush. and aunt susan was a a world champion. i inherited their can-do spirit. and their double chin. now, i'm going to do something about it. kybella® is the first of its kind injectable treatment that destroys fat under the chin, leaving an improved profile. kybella® is an fda-approved non-surgical treatment for adults with a moderate amount of fullness... or a bit more. don't receive kybella® if you have an infection in the treatment area. kybella® can cause nerve injury in the jaw

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>> gunduz: the voice of istanbul. i've had at least 30 names from new rome to islambul. now they say, i'm between the east and the west. an identity crisis. mine or theirs? enough of this nonsense. take the labels off and just look at me. you won't need a guidebook. like all cities i have my own sense of time. i'm a labyrinth of layers that only makes sense without a compass.

if you're hesitant, not sure of which way to go as you walk about, follow one of my cats. they will lead you to places, introduce you to people, point out secrets they keep even from me. they more than anyone are the longest continuing residents of the city. a challenge to those who see the future in my past. i'm an obstacle for those who see only the future. i see change with the patience of centuries. look at my silhouette from the

bridge on the golden horn. time has not passed me by. it has protected me. i ask of you the same. >> anthony: an hour ferry ride, and a world away are the prince's islands in the sea of marmara. gunduz vassaf, and his friend, serra yilmaz have invited me for lunch. uh, actor, translator. >> serra: yeah. >> anthony: uh, philosopher, poet? are these good time to be a poet in turkey? >> gunduz: it is actually because it's a way to bring down the noise in a way because so much words are exchanged, especially in heated political discussions.

>> anthony: i have become very used to and fond of this drink by the way. maybe, too used to it and too fond of it. >> gunduz: they used to call it "lion's milk" and a famous turkish poet is known for saying "i wish i could be a fish in a bottle of raki." >> anthony: serra prepares a traditional spread of meze. turkish meze are an extremely tasty, very diverse assortment of dishes originating from every corner of the former ottoman empire. the ottoman's liked to eat, and entertain, and they employed armies of cooks to dazzle them with ever changing menus. variety being key. circassian chicken, fava beans, rice with mussels, eggplant stuffed grape leaves, poached

eggs with yogurt, all classic and all delicious. >> serra: what shall i give you? a few of everything. >> anthony: yes, please. >> serra: yes. put some -- or maybe i could give you some chicken already. >> anthony: i'll make room for that, i think. here we go. wow, it's really pretty. am i getting a distorted picture of turkey by spending all of my time in istanbul? it's very different than the rest of the country, yeah? how different? >> serra: but i think in istanbul you have all the different parts of turkey also. >> anthony: what does it mean to be turkish? what do you think? >> gunduz: serra, are you turkish? >> serra: yes but it's not my fault. >> anthony: man, this is so -- let me say, this food is

extraordinary, i mean, really, really amazing. but when i was here last it was a very different mood. now, at least the tenor of the things said by the government are increasingly ugly and intolerant and you've got this social activism that's very unusual. certainly the government is sort of appealing to traditional islamic values. whether it's for show or not, there seems to be some revaluation of how much of a party town do we want to be. >> gunduz: these days the powers that be don't like it and -- >> anthony: do they genuinely not like it or are they appealing to a political base? >> gunduz: no, no, no. it's populism. it's a political base and lots of people, of course, play along saying they don't want to drink, et cetera because that's the way you get your contracts, that's the way you get things done. >> anthony: but i mean

nationalism seems to be working internally. >> serra: yes. >> anthony: nationalism and xenophobia, it's a vote getter almost anywhere. >> gunduz: well it's a vote getter, but it's a vote loser as well in the sense that there is so much backlash. >> anthony: what, uh, do you think is gonna happen? >> gunduz: get back to normal. >> anthony: you think it'll get back to normal/ >> gunduz: oh yeah. it's kinda like eating a big... warm... hug. ♪make tonight a manwich night justice is spelled b-o-x.hero,

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> anthony: walking down istanbul's streets it's easy to forget, or not take seriously the slow, but certain change and attitude towards this kind of freedom.

the right, for a lack of better term, to party. the akp is in power, because majority of voters put them there. their attitudes for better or worse reflect the attitudes of a greater number of turks. this is nuri, a turkish businessman. i'm glad we met you because you are an akp supporter. you vote for akp. >> nuri: yeah, i did. >> anthony: right, um, why? >> nuri: before the economy was so bad -- no foreign investment. interest rates were so high. inflation was about 100% per year, so it's very hard to make

business in such circumstances. in 2002, i had 78 employees, now it's 250. >> anthony: since i got here, i've been talking to a lot of people, who are very upset about the environment. they're upset about the destruction of old beautiful buildings. to a great extent, they do not like what much of the world would call progress. so, when you saw people running out in the streets and demonstrating, what was your feeling? >> nuri: they said, they went there for the trees. they went there for the environment, but at the end, they were together with the terrorist people. they have to accept istanbul like this. we've got nothing to do. i cannot change it. no one can change it. >> anthony: no going back. >> nuri: fifty years ago, they could do some things, but not now. >> anthony: you're not sentimental about the old neighborhoods, the old -- >> nuri: uh, no. i got used to

it. ♪ >> anthony: this is a party town. this is a nightclub town. the impression is that, there's some ambivalence there. ten years from now will we be able to come to this bar or a bar like it and drink lots of gin drinks and misbehave no problem? >> nuri: no problem, i think. it's still a party town. we drink hard. >> anthony: so it's all about money. >> nuri: its' all about money. everything is all about money in the world. >> anthony: who will be turkey's bestest pal internationally? which way are they looking? to the east or to the west? >> nuri: east. russia, china, iran and the arabic countries, because west and europe is getting weaker and

weaker day by day. the next 50 years is going to be the era of the east, not the west. >> anthony: so these notions of like freedom of the press, these are not eastern concepts? >> nuri: no. >> anthony: no, they're not. okay, i'm going to ask you a tough question. is freedom of the press overrated? >> nuri: yeah, yeah, yeah. it's overrated. >> anthony: you think a tightening up on the press is a sacrifice that you're willing to make for a good economy? i don't want to put words in your mouth, but prosperity for the majority. >> nuri: it is. it's the same all over the world. it's not typical for turkey. that's life. >> bartender: on the house. >> anthony: oh, thank you. this is a really bad idea, okay, cheers. nostrovia. >> nuri: cheers. nostrovia.

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♪ >> esra: hi. >> anthony: esra, of course, good to see you. >> esra: welcome to our park. >> anthony: oh man. i'm glad i haven't eaten yet. that is pretty awesome looking. >> esra: so, have you ever had turkish breakfast before? >> anthony: with you. i love that you even do eggs in the park, pretty impressive. >> esra: this place is called, abbasaga park.

it's one of the last remaining parks in the vicinity. since 2013 people have been gathering here in what we call forums to talk about their ideas for different, uh, how can i say? >> sinan: debates, chats. just different people gathering here at night after work and then talking, trying to find solutions, right? >> inan: we didn't have any other place to go, so we came here. >> anthony: why is it so important? >> inan: i think it's not just for us for future residents of istanbul, right? >> heja: this space turned into a space of politics, a space of hope against this system, which seems to be like impossible to break actually. >> anthony: is it impossible to break? >> heja: no, not now. >> inan: it was impossible a few weeks ago. >> anthony: a few weeks ago it

was impossible. so, you're feeling optimistic. >> heja: the hope is the revolution, you know. if you lose your hope, then there is nothing to do. >> esra: i think the tide is turning. >> zeynep: for, if you compare arab spring and gezi park things, i mean, in arab spring, they were protesting against dictatorship, but in turkey i think we can say that there is democracy. >> anthony: esra and her friends, previously unlikely to have known much less, come to like one another were brought together by circumstance. >> esra: have you been gassed? >> zeynep: not that much, but -- >> anthony: by gas, you're talking about pollution. >> esra: tear gas. >> anthony: oh, tear gas. >> esra: when you are getting gassed together, you really connect through life or death situations. you hold each other and run away together.

it was actually very emotional for me, um, because all my life i was taught to keep away from different types of people. like i never had a kurdish friend. i never had a people around me were all like me and i was a lacking so much richness in my life. thanks to gezi, i saw everybody is the same. >> inan: people learned real democracy in gezi. people learned to speak. >> sinan: i like tear gas connecting people. >> esra: tear gas connecting people. >> sinan: just run away together. ♪ >> anthony: democracy is always a fragile thing. 92 years ago modern turkey was assembled from the fragments of the ottoman empire. it has always struggled to find a balance between those in power and the consent of its widely diverse population.

since the filming of this episode, turkey's newly elected parliament failed to form a coalition and president erdogan quickly called for new elections. at the same time he's revved up military action against kurdish opposition forces in both south eastern turkey and across the border, in kurdish iraq. many claim that he effectively plunged turkey into conflict in a bid to take advantage of atmosphere of fear and uncertainty and improve his party's chances of success. this is not an unreasonable assumption on anyone's part. fear works, fear gets votes. the opposition had hoped the tide was turning. [ chanting ] [ explosion ] it remains to be seen if they have any reason to hope.

♪ president kennedy: good evening, my fellow citizens. this government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the soviet military buildup on the island of cuba. >> anthony: this is the cuba i grew up with. >> narrator: mankind teeters precariously on the brink of a thermal nuclear war. >> anthony: the missile crisis. duck and cover. hide under your desk, kids, cover yourselves with wet newspaper, because we're all going to die. >> narrator: the flames of crisis burn far stronger, fed and fanned by the bitter tirades of fidel castro. >> anthony: and this guy, always in the fatigues, underlining with every appearance that we