Epi-Blog

A place can live in our minds, long before we ever step foot on its soil.  If I say “China”, images might begin to come to mind: the Great Wall forming a dragon’s spine roller-coastering over thousands of miles of mountains, the vast courtyards of the Forbidden City with its blood-red lacquered doors that speak to its foreboding, or perhaps the strangely stunning hills or karsts that punctuate the Guilin landscape as immortalized in ancient paintings or gleaming new skyscrapers standing like sentries in its bursting metropoli. 

If I say “Turkey”, your mind may conjure up more references than you may have thought probable: a song by They Might Be Giants (which is actually a remake), the domes and minarets of Istanbul’s skyline, Turkish coffee, Turkish baths, whirling dervishes.  Some may think of the Turkish Delight that sways an easily corruptible young Edmund Pevensie in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and wonder how such an unappealing rose-flavored jelly confection could accomplish such a thing.   As it turns out, some form of Turkish Delight exists in much of the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Arab world, with different ingredients accounting for different textures and countless flavors.  Unfortunately though, some references aren’t quite as innocuous as these. 

For some decades now, Turkey has had to live down its reputation abroad, especially in places like the US, as the land of Midnight Express.  And that probably speaks as much to how Turkey has changed, as to not knowing a place until you step on its soil. To say that Turkey is a place of contradictions is simplistic, and implies that we have presupposed ideas of the place, that Turkey’s identity in our minds at least, is conditional: the most modern Islamic country, its great, historical megalopolis Istanbul sited in both Europe and Asia, possible entry into the European Union.  However, to say that Turkey is misunderstood would be more accurate.   In many ways, it is very much like the United States in its struggle for a cohesive political and cultural identity, progressive and liberal versus traditional and conservative, and points in between.

Asia Minor and Anatolia are different names for the land that modern Turkey occupies, and it has been settled for a least eight millennia by a litany of different peoples, and has seen the rise and fall of many civilizations, religions, and empires. It is the birthplace of St. Nicholas, site of Mt. Ararat where Noah’s Ark is said to have landed, where the Virgin Mary and St. John both supposedly lived and died, homes to oracles of Apollo and two of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and the Trojan War.  Though the landmarks and history of this land are the main attractions for visitors, as it was for me, modern Turkey is most notable in my opinion for its people.  Industrious, hospitable, proud and curious, they animated this place that could easily be stuck in its past glories, but instead continues to change and add to its history. 

So whatever ideas you may have about Turkey, I say go see for yourself.  You might be surprised.

And to everyone, tesekkür ederim for reading and letting me share my experiences with you.