“We don’t obey, we don’t shut up, we aren’t afraid,” shouted members of the LGBTQ community during the Gay Pride parade in Istanbul. On July 1, 2018, the number of people gathered was a far cry from the huge gathering of 2014, the last time that the Turkish government allowed the parade.
The participants of Istanbul's Gay Pride parade are not necessarily the people who define themselves with one or more of the letters in LGBTQI. These people represent what's called “Hipstanbul." From the X, Y or Z generations all the way to those born in the 1950s, Hipstanbul represents a resistance to commercialization.
The word "hipster" is well-defined enough. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as a subculture struggling to find originality. “Original” or “authentic” are terms you’d frequently hear on college campuses, thrift markets and pubs in Istanbul. It may be used for anything from a political analysis to a heritage lantern.
The first time I heard the term was from my Airbnb host, "Mete," in Karakoy, in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul, in 2015. He owned a seven-story building that he inherited, and he rented the top floor. US-educated architect Mete had upgraded the whole building with the latest technology. Six floors were his offices, and the top floor was his partying space, which was also rented out to people provided that he thought they were “Hipstanbul material.” Since then, I've heard the term used by college students, white-collar professionals and artisans of the city.
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