I am very lucky that my apartment is centrally located in Besiktas, otherwise I may have never known that such a legendary event was going to take place last weekend. I woke up last Sunday to the sounds of chanting, cheering and drums. Looking out from my balcony, I saw this.
Not really sure what was going on, I decided to talk a walk down the street...
At this point, after seeing all of the black and white scarves and hats, I realized it had something to do with Besiktas JK, the local soccer club. I decided to make my way through the crowd to the statue of the black eagle, the mascot of BJK. I feel lucky to live less than two minutes from such a center of Besiktas culture and life.
Here, I could finally make out what all the chanting was. Well, as much as someone who doesn't speak much Turkish could... What I did gather was that they were chanting in support of Besiktas, and saying rude things that I won't translate on this page about Fenerbahce, who is a longtime cross-city rival of Besiktas JK.
It was such a festive atmosphere and crowd, I couldn't help but partake. Besiktas and Fenerbahce have a long history going back almost 100 years, to 1924. There were fireworks, people dancing, drinking, singing, and chanting.
After a few hours, many of the people started to make their way to the stadium, and others went to eat dinner before the match started at 7. Sadly, I did not have tickets for the game, but it turns out the fun wasn't over yet. As kickoff drew nearer, the crowds started massing in Besiktas again. I went outside of my apartment again to see almost every bar or cafe in the neighborhood was hanging up a TV outside their building, and hundreds, if not thousands of people were gathering to watch on the various screens. I chose a bar only 10-15 meters from my front door, and waited with the crowd for the game to start.
The game was exciting, with each team scoring a goal, and the other answering almost immediately. It was a tie until the final minutes of stoppage time, when Besiktas scored a last minute, game winning goal. This was when the party really got started.
We all proceeded to march down to the statue again, everyone ecstatic that Besiktas had defeated their rivals.
All night I was meeting people who were so surprised and happy to hear that an American exchange student was a Besiktas fan. Frequently I was referred to as 'Kardesim!', meaning 'my brother'. After such a fun experience with the fans of Besiktas, I will consider myself a Besiktas JK fan, even after I am gone from this amazing city.
