The first week that I arrived, I looked out the window to see six papağan (parrot) perched on the tree outside of our apartment. I thought to myself, parrots in Istanbul? This is impossible! Maybe they are some sort of green pigeon I never studied. I quickly took out the camera so that no one would try to suggest jet-lagged delusion. I told my fiance and he told his parents who, no one believed my until I pulled out the camera. They have since been back in 2's and 3's, but for the first time last night, I heard the story of where they came from. In 1998, parrots were loaded into a cargo plane and taken to Istanbul to be sold in a pet shop. On the way from he loading dock to the store, the truck got in an accident and the bird flew the scene. They have been successfully breeding since and can be found along the Bosporus in the more wooded areas. "I met your mother on a cargo plane after being captured and taken to another country" - what a story to tell the grand kids.