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Turkey has a magnificent past, and is a land full of historic treasures covering twelve
successive civilizations.
Even a person who spends only little time in Turkey can see something of the great past.
If you didn't visit Turkey yet, let me say that one visit to this beautiful country will not be enough,
and you will want to come back again as you discover one extraordinary place after
another. All of them, no matter how different, have one thing in common, the friendly and
hospitable people of this unique country.
Marmara, Aegean, and Mediterranean coasts: These coasts have a typical Mediterannean climate with hot summers and mild winters. The swimming season becomes shorter the further north one goes:
The Turkish landscape encompasses a vast veriety of geographic zones. If you take a cross section along the east-west axis, you will encounter rugged, snow-capped mountains where winters are long and cold; the highlands where the spring season with its rich wildflowers and rushing creeks extends into long and cool summers; the dry steppeswith rolling hills, endless stretches of wheat fields and barren bedrosk that take on the most incredible shades of gold, violet, cool and warm greys as the sun travels the sky; the magical land of fairy chimneys and cavernous hillsides; and eventually the warm, fertile valleys between cultivated mountainsides, reaching the lacelike shores of the Aegean where nature is friendly and life has always been easy.
These were people of different origin, coming in wavwes, mingling with those already there, each time creating a new synthesis. Between 2000 BC to 1500 AD, this landscape was the center of world civilization. Interpretation of the wrold scene today is predicted upon our understanding of what took place on this landscape for the last four millenia, manifested in the ruins and monuments which decorate the landscape.
Up until the advent of modernity (which in Turkey is associated with the comprehensive highway program of the 1950's) the landscape has remained as it was through millennia. When you see a replica of one of the first agragrian villages in the world dating back to almost 7000 BC in the Museum of Anatilian Civilizations in Ankara, you cannot miss the similarity between this prototype and all those others that you passed by on the way to the museum. As in the other long-civilized regions of the world, building technologies and layout patterns have survived until the present day to become what we call vernacular.
In Anatolia the settlement pattern is more or less how it was during ancient civilizations. There is a good chance that the road you are traveling on is the same one on which great warriors of the east and the west trod, colorful caravans passed along and couriers of mail or secret treaties galloped. Perhaps it is the same road travelled by St. Paul and his disciples or by suifis spreading divine knowledge.
Graceful aqueducts built by the romans made urban concentrations possible. Bridges built by Sinan and other Ottoman architects dot the contrysite and are still used for safe passage of goods and services. Caravanserais dating back to the Selcuk Empire of the 11th century offered sanctuary and relief to weary travellers. You can even stay in a caravanserai, for several have been restored into luxury hotels.
In addition to the historic edificies proudly displayed at the main archeological sites such as Troy, Pergamon, Ephesus, miletus, Priene, Didyma, Aphrodisias, Heraclia, Caunos, Perge and Aspendos, many coastal villages and toens are blessed with their very own Anatolian ruins on the outskirts. This is usually an amphitheater commanding a spectacular view of the beach where, the villagers will tell you, Cleopatra often swam. You don't have to look far for the agora either. It is probably where it has always been; right at the market place! Several villages are also privileged to have "sunken cities" or ruins under the sea, which you can see if you can look down into the crystal clear, turquoise waters as you swim.
The anatolian hinterland will show you glimpses of other ancient civilizations; the Hittites, the Urartians, the Phyrigians and the Lydians. From these civilizations come many familiar legends; the wealth of Lydian King Croesus, King Midas with the golden thouch and the Knot of Gordion the young Alexander was able to undo with the strike of his sword.
then there are the lesser places, both sacred and ordinary, but profound meaning: monasteries, tombs of local saints, heroes, artists or poets, mosques, churches, walls, fortresses, palaces, fountains, and cemeteries. The hillsides are covered with broken pieces of ancient pottery, contemorary walls often have corner stones which may date back to antiquity. Children play and sheep graze amidst fragile remains. Until very recently, God's Caves in Cappadocia were used by villagers as cold storage or wine cellars.
The very richness of the landscape poses grave challenges for historic preservation in Turkey. Good progress has been made in safeguarding thje integrity of the most important sites, and work is ongoing to excavate, catalogue and preserve the country's tremendous legacy. strict laws prevent the export of antiquities.
Here is My selection to other homepages of the Turkic World
A comprehensive description of Internet resources for studies of Central Asia from Hawaii
soc.culture.turkish soc.culture.kurdish rec.travel.misc bit.listserv.travel-l
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Revised: March 18, 1997.
