A black Porsche Carrera swings to the curb and two doormen in tuxedos rush to open the doors for the driver, who is in wraparound designer sunglasses and his passenger, a young woman wearing a short red silk dress and improbably high heels. Whisked past the paparazzi, they disappear into Laila, a sprawling club on the Bosporus where the city's hip and rich party away the summer nights.
Not far away, Unsal Akayoglu is pulling off his white jacket and ending another 12-hour day as a waiter in a sweltering traditional Turkish restaurant. He will take three buses home to the small apartment he shares with his mother. He pays almost half his monthly earnings of US$160 in rent and can no longer buy meat or fresh fruit.
Istanbul is like many cosmopolitan cities with its mix of rich and poor. But as Turkey ends the fifth month of the worst economic crisis in its modern history, the gap between the wealthy elite and struggling poor is growing wider and more visible.
The Turkish lira has lost nearly 50 percent of its value against the dollar, sending the purchasing power of average Turks plunging as accompanying inflation pushes prices higher at double-digit rates.
Though Turkey is not prone to mass demonstrations, concerns have increased among political leaders about the potential for a social explosion as the poor watch the rich glide along seemingly unscathed, particularly in the country's showcase city.
First world city, developing country
Istanbul has long regarded itself as a first world city in a developing country. The Bosporus is lined with spectacular villas, and the best boulevards boast chic European shops and five-star restaurants. Affluent young Turks are educated at private universities here and abroad.
But over the last three decades, the character of the city has been transformed by the arrival of millions of people escaping the impoverished villages of the Anatolian heartland. Instead of a haven of last resort, these internal migrants more often confront another empty dream of social mobility, without the skills or education to make a living.
Even those with a job barely earn a living wage. Base pay for the majority of Turkey's workers is about US$85 a month. Per capita income among Turkey's wealthiest 5 percent last year was US$10,172 a year, compared with US$396 for the poorest 5 percent. Instead of being kept out of sight as they are in many places, Istanbul's poor live in hovels with no running water, a stone's throw from mansions. Thousands of unemployed men line the Bosporus, fishing for their meal as yachts glide past. For every shiny Porsche, there is an old man pushing a cart heavy with scraps gleaned from garbage bins.
"Turks live more intimately than people in the United States," said Faruk Birtek, chairman of the sociology department at Bosporus University. "The poor are much more visible because they live around the corner."
One of the most popular new television shows follows two contestants trying to live on US$85 a month. More often, however, Turkish television focuses on the lives of celebrities and the rich. Newspapers were filled with stories last week of a businessman who spent US$1 million on a party in Istanbul to celebrate his son's circumcision.
Ostentatious displays of wealth were once taboo in Turkey, so the differences were less obvious. Close-knit families also served as a safety net and psychological buffer against poverty. But many people left extended families behind when they moved to Istanbul, and the grinding poverty has brought new strains.
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