This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Margaret Kahn, who will chronicle her summer experiences in Istanbul in a series of posts.

“This is why I hate religion!” I said after I realized my favorite lunch spot, Ekin Cafe, was closed for the month of Ramadan, depriving me of the Turkish egg and vegetable dish, menemen, for weeks.

“Me too,” my Armenian-Christian friend Faruk replied. But he wasn’t joking.

In Istanbul– a melting pot of ideas, faiths and ethnicities – the restaurant’s closed doors reflected not only tensions between the religious and the secular, but also the protests that rocked the city last month.

The Islamic month of fasting, Ramazan as it‘s known in Turkey, began July 7. The summertime fasting is notoriously unpleasant; in a humid and cloudless city that averages 90 degrees, fasting can be physically taxing.

This year, the Istanbul municipality is hosting a giant nightly iftar dinner, when Muslims break their fast,  in Taksim Square – the same site of the recent Gezi Park protests.

Even this iftar event was met with protest. An anti-government group known as the Anti-Capitalist Muslims hosted their own iftar 300 meters away from Taksim Square.

Yet even with a backdrop of political turmoil, the mood in Istanbul warms up as evening falls over the city. Restaurants are filled with hungry families awaiting their meals, and even those who do not practice Islam join in. My staunchly secular host mom revels over the steaming hot “Ramazan pidesi” bread delivered every evening.

I’ve been lucky enough to attend multiple celebrations. Last Thursday, I joined the Anti-Capitalist Muslims in an iftars in front of the historic Haydarpasa Terminal.

While protests would later ensue at the scene, for the time being, I was at peace. The newspaper tablecloths and potluck-style meal reminded me that a community can still be united.