1 of the most striking images of 2025

 

Protester, Istanbul

The image of a protester in Istanbul wearing traditional dervish attire – customarily associated with Sufi mysticism – confronting a battalion of heavily equipped police officers deploying pepper spray, went viral in March. The widespread political unrest, the most heated in over a decade in Turkey, was triggered by the arrest and jailing of Istanbul's mayor – a figure seen by many as a rival to President Erdoğan. The visual juxtaposition of a seemingly stoic and motionless individual, linked to the non-violent spiritual practice of dervish whirling, and armed law enforcement is powerful. The distinctive tall dervish hat and long, layered robes, both rich in the symbolism of death and rebirth, elevated the image from one of typical street protest to something mythic. Distant recollections from art history of the dynamic dancing of dervishes serve only to unsettle the scene further.