How to Steal a Shoe

Samuel Dolbee, New York University

One of the best ways?  While people are praying.  But if this was the cleverest way to filch footwear, it turns out that it was also a good way to get sent back to Diyarbakır.

This was the case with Hüseyin bin Mehmet in 1899.  In April of that year, Hüseyin lurked in Istanbul's Cami-i Şerif with the intention, apparently, of preying on those praying.  Upon being searched, police discovered a pair of new shoes (bir çift mucedded kundura) on Hüseyin, though it's unclear whether they were on his feet or tucked away in a coat pocket.  Noting that Hüseyin had burgled before (sırketle mahkum sabıkalı takımdan olup) and lacked any relatives in Istanbul, the authorities deemed it inappropriate for him to remain in the city.  

But the road back to Diyarbakır was long, and even if Hüseyin lacked new shoes, the route surely entailed many opportunities for him to hotfoot it back to the capital.  To prevent escape, the authorities appointed a member of the gendarme called Mustafa to escort Hüseyin by way of the Iskenderun road back to Diyarbakır.  

This story is notable for two reasons.  First, it could well supply the plot for Nuri Bilge Ceylan's next feature film.  As a follow up to his 2011 Palme d'Or-winning Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia), this film would be tentatively entitled Başka bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da (Once Upon Another Time in Anatolia).  It would last five hours, and follow the conversations between Mustafa, the gendarme, and Hüseyin, the shoe stealer, on topics like yoğurt, interspersed with extended shots of the two men contemplating fate.  Second, the story provides another glimpse of the migration that has caused Tozsuz Evrak's habit of gratuitously referring to A Moveable Empire.  People came to Istanbul from far away and ended up doing many things.  Magic and public urination are just two of them.  As Hüseyin bin Mehmet's story demonstrates, people may have come from far away even without shoes, or at least new ones.  And in his case, this was the reason for his being sent back far away, too.

Source: BOA, ZB 419/84 (1315 [1899] May 24).    

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