Handala

You can spot this one in many districts of Istanbul. The first time I saw it, it was in the Fatih district, a very conservative and religious district of Istanbul, probably the most religious district. It represents a little boy seen from behind. I didn't really know what it represented until I saw this sticker in Taksim. Handala (Hanzala in Turkish) is the name of this 10 year old boy drawn by Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali (on the left on the sticker). Naji al-Ali was killed by a man in London in 1987. via Wikipedia : "Noted for the political criticism of Israel in his works. He drew over 40,000 cartoons, which often rflected Palestinian and Arab public opinion and were sharply critical commentaries on Palestinian and Arab politics and political leaders. He is perhaps best known as creator of the character Handala, pictured in his cartoons as a young witness of the satirized policy or event depicted, and who has since become an icon of Palestinian defiance".
Handala has the same age Naji Al-Ali had when he had to go into exile (message on the sticker).

La Linea - Kreuzberg

This one represents the little character from the Italian cartoon "La Linea" created by Osvaldo Cavandoli with the writing Kreuzberg. Kreuzberg is both the Turkish and trendy district in Berlin, Germany. The creator of this stencil is Daniel (a german psychiatrist), he actually lives in Kreuzberg in Berlin. You can find them in the Nişantaşı area. It's a pretty smaşş one, about 15x10 cm.









Dersane Street






























Süleyman Nazif Street






"Temiz Şişli" means "A Clean Şişli", Şişli (sheeshlee) being the name of the municipality. Someone wrote "Çişli" (tcheeshlee) on the left side meaning "with pee". Underneath the writing, above the stencil, it says "Kirletriz" (mispelled) meaning "we'll litter".









Vali Konağı Boulevard