Fun Facts and Turkish History

A FEW THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW ABOUT TURKEY

Like the United States, Turkey is a secular democracy, and though 99.8 percent of its citizens are Muslim, it is not a theocracy as are the majority of countries in the Middle East.

Istanbul, with a population of 15 million, is the largest city in Europe. It bridges the continents of Europe and Asia, with parts of the city on either side of the Bosporus Strait. The country has been trying for years to become a part of the European Union. Many Turks feel it is their religion that has kept them out of what is largely a “Christian club.”

President Bill Clinton was extremely popular in Turkey, but the war in Iraq and some of the accompanying rhetoric emanating from Washington have contributed to cooler feelings about the present U.S. government. Nevertheless, the average Turk is able to differentiate between an American visitor and the American government.

Turkey is about the size of the state of Texas, and has the second largest land mass in Europe. Its varied geography includes gorgeous beaches that rival those of the Riviera (with luxury hotels to complement them) and a rugged hill country that resembles that of Northern California.

As modern as parts of Turkey are, with five-star hotels, fine dining and elegant condominiums, in the rural areas it’s not uncommon to see farmers in horse-drawn wagons. Nor is it uncommon to see a man driving a herd of sheep through the middle of Istanbul. The country’s per capita income is just $9,000 a year, but the economy is robust and manufacturing is growing.

Turkey is famous for its carpets, baths, textiles, ceramic tiles, tea and coffee, and a visitor will get a generous sampling of all.

A TINY BIT OF HISTORY

Turkey has been part of three huge and long-lived empires: the Roman Empire; the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire. These carried it through until shortly after World War I, when Turkey, which had allied itself with Germany, was carved up as spoils of war by the European victors. Within five years, however, a war of independence was waged by General Mustafa Kemal, better known as Kemal Ataturk, and led to the establishment of Turkey as an independent republic in 1923.

Ataturk is seen as modern Turkey’s George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, all rolled into one. His blue-eyed visage is found on every denomination of Turkish currency and coin, and peers out from pictures on the walls of public buildings, businesses and private homes. Statues of Ataturk dot the city landscapes.

It is because of Ataturk that Turkey has a secular government, uses the Latin alphabet and has been more allied with the West than the East. It is also because of Ataturk that Christian monuments, such as the famed Hagia Sofia and the Chora church in Istanbul, have been converted from their adaptive uses as mosques into museums for people of all faiths to enter and admire their Byzantine mosaics, huge domed ceilings and elaborate tile.

Turkey also has preserved several of the early Christian settlements in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey as national parks. Here, monks carved caves and underground cities into the soft volcanic rock, painting elaborate frescoes of Christ and the saints on the walls. You cannot visit these sites and be unmoved by the faith that sustained people living in such an inhospitable environment.