As you descend down Bebek Hill, officially known as İnşirah Street (or İnşirah Hill), towards the coast, you can be sure that spring has arrived when you see the judas tree in full bloom in the garden of this magnificent mansion, located next to an elementary school and across from a church. Every time I see that tree in bloom, my heart is filled with joy, mixed with excitement.
Beyond the joy of spring, I have hundreds of memories of this white mansion, where we moved from the Anatolian side of Istanbul when I was 10. Every time I see the tree, my memories of the white mansion in its garden come to mind.
After graduating from İlhami Ahmet Örnekal Primary School on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, we moved from our house in Çiftehavuzlar to this magnificent mansion. This move was a turning point in my life. My twin, Baran, and I grew up in this house with my grandmother, as my parents divorced that year. I had the room on the top floor overlooking the judas tree. Baran had also made a gesture and chosen the relatively smaller room on the other side of the house. Words cannot describe the feeling of a magnificent judas tree in bloom, overlooking the Bosphorus. For me, gazing at a judas tree with such joy filled me, every time it bloomed, the first thing we did was go out to the terrace and celebrate. By ‘celebrate,’ I mean going out to the terrace for afternoon tea and socializing with family and/or friends in front of this magnificent tree.
Some of the countless memories it evokes…
Therefore, for me, the judas tree, which heralds spring, also symbolizes the quality and beautiful times I spend with my family and friends. You can see the smile spread across my face every time I see the tree in bloom.
Playing basketball with my twin brother Baran in the garden of that wonderful house, playing football with the garage door as a goal, our other dogs, including our first dog, Charlie, raising ducks, playing with my twin and friends in the ground-floor playroom, table tennis competitions, extended family gatherings every Sunday when my aunts and uncles (along with our cousins, of course) visited my grandmother, drinking the ever-flowing fountain in her garden whenever we got tired, birthday parties we invited our friends to, hearing the Greek Orthodox church bell ring at 8 a.m. knowing it was time to leave the house and go to school, the wonderful cooking my grandmother and Esma Abla, whom she later trained in Antep cuisine, having fun with my grandmother’s relatives from Anatolia, eating homemade chocolate biscuit cake while having our afternoon tea after school, and also watching the popular cartoon of the time, He-Man (by the power of shadows!), are some of the wonderful memories that come to mind and make me smile. This environment. I’m grateful to my father for creating this for us. I’d also like to thank all my relatives and friends, especially my grandmother and my twin brother Baran, for all the beautiful memories from my childhood and adolescence. Those were truly wonderful days.
Mehmet Yılmaz is also in love with that tree.
Author Mehmet Yılmaz shares similar feelings about this tree. Of course, even though he didn’t live in the house, he was captivated by its beauty. He had written about our judas tree before. This year, as per his habit, he wrote another beautiful piece. I’d like to take this opportunity to share his beautiful article, “I can’t bear to smell my beautiful judas,” with you:
https://www.t24.com.tr/yazarlar/mehmet-y-yilmaz-hafta-sonu/koklamaya-kiyamam-benim-guzel-judasm,34879 . I’d also like to thank him for commemorating our magnificent judas tree with these beautiful articles.
I’d like to remind you of the articles author Mehmet Yılmaz wrote about our judas tree in various media in recent years.
His 2018 article in Hürriyet Newspaper, “Hug your lover, feel the spring,” was published: https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/mehmet-y-yilmaz/sevgilinize-sarilin-bahari-hissedin-40775584
His 2019 article, “Hug your lover, we’ll see another spring,” was published on his blog and in T24: https://mehmetyyilmaz.com/t24-hafta-sonu/sevgilinize-sarilin-bir-bahar-daha-gorecegiz/
Besides Mehmet Yılmaz, many others celebrate the blooming of the judas tree. The renowned poet Can Yücel is one of those who wrote about our judas tree, which, beyond being in our garden, has become a symbol of Istanbul.
Here are Can Yücel’s lines and notes about our tree from his poem “Imagination Game:”
“(…)
The ash-colored spring has just begun
We have neither war nor peace…
A land newly arrived in this world
Doves perched on judass at night…”
The judas tree that best suits Istanbul’s house and hillside
–İnşirah Hill, Bebek
Can Yücel
And of course, there are many symbolic trees of Istanbul, like our judas tree. On this topic, I recommend listening to the podcast “Istanbul’s Monumental Trees”
We live in a truly magnificent city. The trees and nature of Istanbul, a city we often take for granted, are also truly beautiful. I’m grateful to have enjoyed these beauties to the fullest as a child. Unfortunately, our children aren’t as fortunate as we were. We live in a time when living conditions become increasingly difficult each year. The destruction of nature is a major contributing factor to these challenging conditions.
For instance, we call the judas tree the harbinger of spring. Those trees are also surprised by what’s happening in nature. They bloom their magnificent pink and white flowers, believing spring has arrived, but then the weather suddenly cools again, and winter sets in. As children, after spring arrived, we’d enjoy Istanbul’s most beautiful season for a few months before entering summer, when the weather warms up significantly.
My word to our judas tree!
Nowadays, as we experience climate change, the seasons have become intertwined. You enter spring, then it turns back to winter, and you enter summer, and the weather suddenly cools like autumn or even winter, then rains heavily, then returns to summer conditions a week later, or even warms up dramatically like summer within the winter months. That’s why even that magnificent judas tree, the harbinger of spring, can’t understand what’s happening and is confused.
We’ve ruined this world, and it’s up to us to ensure that our children, grandchildren, and future generations aren’t deprived of the beauty of our world like we were. Therefore, as I always say, we must embark on a green transition without delay.
I promise my judas tree: I will continue to do everything in my power to return to the good old days and ensure that future generations can experience these beauties. I’m entering a period where the hardships I’ve experienced in the past have ended, where I’ve turned a new page. From now on, it’s time to go all the way for the values I’ve championed for years.
Note: I’m frequently asked this question, so I wanted to add this note to my post for informational purposes. The white mansion in the garden where the judas tree stands belongs to our family. After we graduated from university and moved out on our own, my grandmother lived here with my cousins for a while, then moved to another house. After my grandmother moved out, my family rented the mansion to an investment consulting firm.
Bonus: I found photos of our Ottoman-era house taken before ours in the SALT Research archives. You can see old photos taken from the same angle in all four seasons at SALT Araştırma: Bebek, İnşirah Sokak’ta bulunan bir manolya ağacı – A magnolia tree located at İnşirah Street, Bebek (saltresearch.org) Below is a historical photo from this link, showing the judass that herald spring in bloom:
Tag: memoir
