These youngsters are trying to attract more customers to “fortune telling cafes.” It is also possible to see dozens of such cafes in İstanbul's Kadıköy and Bakırköy districts. Since it is illegal to tell fortunes for commercial gain, the owners of such cafes have found a way to get around the ban.Once you enter the café, a cup of coffee is instantly served to you, and when you pick up the tab you pay only for the coffee. So as the fortune telling seems to be free of charge, café owners are free of the risk of receiving any fines. However, there remains an apparent irregularity: While the price of a cup of coffee is just TL 2 or 3 anywhere else, its price skyrockets to TL 10 to 20 in such places. At the cafes, waiters shout at the top of their lungs in the crowded streets from morning till night to attract more customers, for a daily wage of only TL 20. After gaining some experience, some of them even start to tell fortunes, at the request of café owners. Neither the fortune tellers nor the café owners believe in fortunes, as they freely admit. “I do not believe in fortunes. When I stare at the cup, it has no meaning. In the end I say whatever I want. People come here to find some peace. So I try to tell them about good things to come,” they say. The dreadful part of the issue is that the most popular word of a majority of fortune tellers is “inşallah” (God willing). They cloak their actions in the guise of a religious ritual. Before dealing tarot cards, they also generally give instructions to the customers such as: “Our almighty God knows everything. Pray to God and never forget him…”
I stop by a young boy who carries such a banner in the street and ask where his café is. Subsequently, he brings me to the café. After I reveal that I am a journalist, his attitude starts to change. When asked about his name, he answers “Ali İhsan,” but is reluctant to tell his surname. Then we step into a café on the third floor of an old apartment. The place is dark, illuminated with only three candles. We then pass to another room, where we meet the café owner, İbrahim Ketenci. At first he approaches me with hesitation, unwilling to respond to questions. He does not actually know how many fortune telling cafes there are around İstiklal Street, but says: “Let me just say that a new one opens each passing day, and you will understand.” Those who are to sit the Student Selection Exam (ÖSS) or who have problems with their spouses patronize the cafes, as he says. The fortune tellers with the gift of gab, who are supposed to tell about the future, sometimes are even transferred among cafes. According to Ketenci those who come to hear their future see these cafes as a kind of therapy center. “We make people to relax. What else should we do? Should we not let them relax, and then harm themselves?” he says, in a slightly defensive tone.
Along with reading Turkish coffee grounds, in the cafes fortunes are also told with water and tarot. Police often investigate the fortune telling cafes; however, no one is ever penalized as café owners claim they do not receive payment for fortune telling but only for coffee. When we talk with the fortune teller at the café, the severity of the situation is revealed. Asked for his name, he replies “İmam” (a Muslim religious leader in a mosque). However when I persist about learning his real name, he says, “It is enough for you to know this.” He tells the fortunes of approximately 40 people per day. Previously he collected customers in the streets by holding banners and shouting, but then at the request of the café owner he started working as a fortune teller. He has graduated from open middle school. Before starting to tell fortunes, he asks some questions. He is so good at speaking that you are taken in by his voice and naturally tend to believe him. “I am telling fortunes just for fun. There is no such a thing as fortune. It is only for chit-chat, that's all. I am motivating people. I am striving to make them happy,” he says. Another fortune teller, who asked to remain anonymous, said similar things and emphasized that he does not believe in fortunes, either. Even though fortune tellers do not believe in fortunes, they still search the bottom of your cup for a tidy profit.
Belief in fortune telling stems from psychological deficiency
Theologist and author Dr. Faruk Vural says both fortune tellers and those whose fortunes are told commit a sin, as fortune telling is a practice forbidden in Islam. “Fortune telling was used to determine worldly issues by many people before the time of the Prophet Muhammad. For instance, they would draw straws and if they drew a long one, they would continue on their way; if not, they turned back. Fortune telling is a sign of a lack of belief in fate. If one chooses to engage in fortune telling, it means he or she does not have faith in fate. Only God knows the future. People cannot foretell anybody's future. There are verses from the Quran that forbid fortune telling. The ones who claim they tell the future are liars,” he says.
Dr. Erol Göka, a psychiatrist, says: “If fortune tellers are claiming they are practicing therapeutic treatment, I definitely have suspicions about the mental faculties of those people, since it means they do not actually understand what therapy is. Both fortune tellers and those who have their fortunes told are drifting on a wind of lies. One who truly knows themselves would never believe in fortune telling. People who are unable to obtain an inner peace through morality unfortunately tend towards such beliefs. Those who hope to obtain some help from fortune telling should enhance their spirituality instead. And if they cannot, they should try real therapeutic treatment.”
