Cultural visitors and local residents’ interactions: hippies movement at Sultanahmet in the 1960s

ABSTRACT

Hippies (and the backpackers) began to visit Turkey in mid-1960s. The “Hippie Movement” to Turkey peaked between 1965 and 1979. After the closing of the “Hippie Trail”, the hippie movement witnessed a significant decrease when the (highway-connected) “traditional hippie trail” was closed – coinciding with the Iranian regime shift in 1979. In this study, cultural interactions are reviewed that resulted from relations between the hippies on the one hand, and local residents and shopkeepers of Sultanahmet, Istanbul and the Turkish media (between 1965 and 1979) on the other. To facilitate this study, data are used that were obtained through the oral history interview method. The study concludes that the aforementioned cultural interactions influenced both the hippies and the Turkish residents.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural interactions
• hippie movement
• Sultanahmet
• Turkey