the traffic might be a huge problem in a chaotic and huge city like istanbul. as an inhabitant living here for about 3 years, i am accustommed to wasting a quarter of my precious time in traffic. but, when the city municipality ignores this and decides to close the vatan avenue (one of the most busy avenues on the european side) to traffic to celebrate the liberation of istanbul, they get on my nerves.

On October the 6th, a trip which would only take half an hour under normal conditions took 1.5 hours on a public bus fully loaded with passengers who were sweating with stress and bickering at each other and none of whom gave a damn about the celebrations. In fact, on public holidays they may celebrate whatever they want and close the streets to traffic but when they do it on a busy day, they get on our nerves. As an older passenger commented: “They never stop celebrating.”