The ancient art of Istanbul’s porters survives modern challenges in Turkiye

On the streets of Istanbul successful Turkiye, porters hauling monolithic sacks wrapped successful achromatic plastic—on their backs oregon successful handcarts—represent an indispensable yet often invisible thread successful the city’s taste tapestry.

This profession, called hamallık successful Turkish, has survived from Ottoman times into the modern era.

The signifier thrives peculiarly successful Istanbul’s historical commercialized centres—the Egyptian Bazaar, the Grand Bazaar, and the Eminonu district—where accepted hans (commercial buildings) location workshops producing jewellery, textiles, and assorted goods.

These porters stay captious due to the fact that galore centuries-old hans deficiency modern amenities similar elevators and are nestled wrong constrictive streets wherever vehicles cannot pass. In Eminonu, daytime postulation restrictions further heighten their importance.

Using a semer—a accepted woody and leather harness—porters tin transport betwixt 200 and 300 kilogrammes (440–660 pounds) of merchandise up to a han’s 5th floor. These specialised harnesses often go household heirlooms, passed from begetter to son, highlighting the profession’s hereditary nature. (The concern remains predominantly male, with pistillate porters being exceptionally uncommon.)

The porters run wrong organised divisions led by managers who guarantee just enactment distribution. Members gain regular wages based connected their loads’ quantity and weight.

This demanding assemblage requires singular carnal spot and stamina, limiting introduction to those susceptible of gathering its rigorous demands. Porters instrumentality sizeable pridefulness successful their enactment and cautiously prime caller members.

Omer Okan, 60, has worked arsenic a porter for 30 years, routinely carrying much than 500kg (1,100 pounds) connected his backmost daily.

The concern offers small security. Okan explains that astir porters deficiency security and gain thing erstwhile sick oregon injured. Employment opportunities person diminished arsenic large wholesale merchants relocate from Eminonu, wherever helium works.

“Some days we instrumentality location without earning immoderate money,” helium said.

Okan inherited the assemblage from his gramps and takes pridefulness successful his work, though helium sometimes feels undervalued by the nine that depends connected his service.

“When I started this profession, radical treated america with large respect,” helium said. “Now, nary 1 successful Turkiye has immoderate respect for anyone else.”