Site of mass murder

Part of an already-aging monument at one of the sites of the December 2016 Istanbul bombings.

 

I could have been there. I tried climbing that hill that evening but there was a police check point and they stopped me. Argued with a young cop there for a bit because it didn't make sense to me. It's not uncommon for them to stop traffic there on match days, but why were they not letting pedestrians though? He didn't know. What he did know was that his commanding officer was in a car further up the hill and that I'd be stopped there anyway plus he'd get yelled at for letting me through.

 

Then some youger guys showed up and started arguing to be allowed through. I noticed that while I was 'sir' and was being addressed in the second person plural, the new interaction was turning into a shouting match between peers. Figured if I visibly complied, it might help defuse that situation. So I loudly said that I understood he couldn't do anything, wished him a good day and took another route home (I could hear them still arguing as I walked down).

 

Came home, went out to my smoking balcony. As I was watching the sky and reflecting on the unproductive photo-walk I'd just taken, I heard a faint thump and the birds went crazy. I knew then a bomb must have gone off somewhere (if you spent 2016 in Istanbul, you'd know why one would immediately think this). I don't know if the young cop I dealt with survived.

Done