Finally! or As previously mentioned.....

Ok, as previously promised, and I will keep this little history lesson brief.  There may be a quiz afterwards though.  Lol.
I would like to introduce Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, first president of the Republic of Turkey.  He is revered in this country with a capital R.  I will bet that almost every home and business in Turkey has a picture of this respected leader as well as every town or city having at least one statue somewhere.  There are several unofficial national flags with his picture on it.  It is against the law to publicly disrespect him in any way, shape or form, and you may be promptly arrested.

Mustafa was born in 1881in a small town in what is now modern day Greece but was part of the Ottoman Empire at that time.  His second name Kemal was given to him by a school teacher although some believe he gave it to himself as a tribute to a poet.  Mustafa attended military school and was in the military through World War I, during which the Ottoman Empire allied through the Central Powers.  After World War 1, Turkey was invaded by Greece, which led to the Turkish War of Independence in 1920 led by Mustafa Kemal.

Mustafa the soldier 

On 29 October 1923, the Turkish Assembly declared Turkey a Republic (ending 623 years of Ottoman rule) and unanimously voted Mustafa as the first President.  As President, Mustafa laid the foundation for a modern Turkey and began to quickly making sweeping social, political, and economic reforms, particularly leading Turkey away from Arabian influences and leaning more towards Europe.  Reforms included:

• the adoption of the international calendar and time system
• the adoption of a Turkish alphabet (using letters similar to German)
• moved the capital from Istanbul (formally Constantinople) to Ankara
• establishment of the Turkish language for business and govt affairs
• the legal position of women was greatly improved - eventually including voting rights
• free public education for all citizens
• encouraging women to remove veils
• freedom of religion - with no official state religion and separate from politics and judicial system. 

He was briefly married and adopted several children.  He enjoyed a good game of backgammon and billiards and was very fond of his horse, Sakarya, and his dog, Fox.

In 1934, the General Assembly granted Mustafa Kemal the surname of Atatürk -meaning "Father of the Turks", in accordance with the new surname law.
One of Atatürk's famous sayings:

Even though he was a career soldier, he came to believe that war was not the answer.
Sadly for Turkey, on 30 November 1938 at 9:05am, near the end of his fourth term as President, Atatürk died of liver disease at the age of 57.  Every year on this date the entire country STOPS to honor him with a minute of silence at the time of his death.
Fifteen years later his body was interred in the Anikabir - a magnificent mausoleum and associated museum on a hill that overlooks Ankara.

Road of Lions, a 262 m (860') long pedestrian walkway with 12 pairs of stone lions representing Anatolia.  The lions are in pairs to simultaneously represent power and peace.  

Changing of the guard at Ataturk's tomb. 

Atatürk statue in Eskisehir 

I need to once again thank Wikipedia for the top two pictures of the Anitkabir.  We did visit there in January I swear, but somehow mysteriously have lost those pictures.  It's what we get for becoming proud of what-we-thought-was-our super organized digital library.  Truly pride goeth before the fall. 

Eskisehir

Two weeks ago Roy had to travel 250 km west to the city of Eskisehir with Ufuk, the junior member of his team to do an inspection.  Because they took the train, I was able to tag along.  (If they drive with a project driver in contracted vehicles, I cannot go, not being a Bechtel employee).  The train ride was very nice; clean, quiet and super fast. The trip lasted 1.5 hours and reached speeds of 250 km/hr (150 mph!).  The cost of a round trip ticket per person was 19 lira (about $9).

train station 

Ufuk Dal

Eskisehir is a university town, home to both Eskisehir Osmangazi University and Anadolu University, which, according to my friend Wikipedia, has the largest student enrollment in the world.   Eskisehir is also the home of the Turkish Air Force.

Eskisehir or San Antonio Texas?  

Old Town 

During the Ottoman Empire the tulip was considered a symbol of abundance and indulgence.  The era during which the Ottoman Empire was the wealthiest is often called the Tulip Era.

A mosque in the Old Town.













Do you remember this pipe from the movie National Treasure?

It is carved out of a soft white mineral called sepiolite or more popularly known as Meerschaum, which is actually German for "foam of the sea", because amazingly it is sometimes found floating on the Black Sea.  It is mined near Eskisehir and is only found there and a few other places in the world in much smaller quantities.

When smoked, the pipes will change color.  The carving can be quite elaborate, as you can see.















The friendly shop keepers let me try to carve and it was very easy, only a bit tougher than carving a bar of soap.

There were many unhappy Turk (Tatar) Crimean immigrants in the area and we saw several of these signs as they object to the Russian domination of what was once their homeland (they're a minority even among the Ukrainians).

I think it is referring to Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Stalin and the last line translates: and now Putin.
We came home in the evening with a bag full of souvenirs (though Eskisehir isn't really a tourist town) and wet from the all-day rainstorm (inevitable during our outings. remember that "curse?").  Another fun trip!  Missing the 6:15pm train only added to the adventure.  Thank goodness there was room on the 7:15pm train.

Out and About Ankara 2

I took a guided Ankara day tour last week with a group of Bechtel wives.

Natural History Museum 

Yes, that is snow on the grass and dinosaur!  We had a light dusting the night before. 

 Changing of the guard at the Anitkabir (literally meaning 'memorial tomb') at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, first president of the Republic of Turkey.  More about him later.  Yes, I know I keep saying that!

Brief snow flurries at Peace Park (Anitkabir)

Our guide, Nicolas, and a lunch of long skinny thin crust pizza-like things that were delicious!  Sorry, I don't remember the Turkish name, much less how to spell it!  (those green things are peppers, not too hot, very yummy.)  We also had okra soup, with small okra that looked like tiny acorns, which was very tasty.   I also don't remember the name of the two desserts we sampled but they were heavenly.  Have I mentioned I am definitely not losing weight here?  Too many new foods to sample.

 

A political demonstration downtown that I was actually very unhappy our driver had driven us too close to - we got through just as the crowd was overflowing into the street.  

Nicolas, me, Petra, Whitney, Marguerite, and shop keepers

Ulus is a popular shopping area in Ankara, maybe a mile square with hundreds of small shops selling everything under the sun - always treasures to discover while exploring the backstreets and small doorways.






There are also other treasurers to be discovered there....

A small mosque built in 1290 AD (note the heads of the columns borrowed from Roman columns).

minibar where the sermon is given

Beautiful mihrab that always points to Mecca

This is the most beautiful mihrab I've seen in Turkey yet.

a display in a small restaurant 

 A 180 year old felted woolen wall hanging.  The embroidery was absolutely stunning!  

The Column of Julian or Julianus, now in the Ulus district, was erected in honor of the Roman Emperor Julian's visit to Ancyra (modern day Ankara) in 362 AD.  Complete with stork's next on the top.

Last Saturday afternoon Roy and I wandered through more of Ulus.

scarf shopping

Coppersmith 

These coppersmiths can fashion anything you want out of copper or can transfer anything you want onto a copper plate - just show them a picture and they work without a plan.  The shops are full of large and small pots, tea kettles, urns, cups, and pitchers of all shapes and sizes.  The shape could be indicative what region the pitcher was made in.  Beautiful things and reasonably priced by weight.   Of course, we were offered tea (politely refused) as we shopped.  Turks are extremely hospitable; they consider a visitor 'a gift from God'.  

A Turkish Folk Philosopher

On Roy's trip last month he saw this funny statute of a  guy riding  a donkey backwards.  What the heck?  Well, come to find out, this is Nasrettin Hoca (aka Nasreddin Hodja) one of Turkey's most endearing figures.  Hoca means teacher or preacher; pronounced Ho-ja.  He is a symbol of Turkish humor and his stories have been passed down for generations.  It is believed he lived during the 13th or 14th century in the city of Aksehir, near Konya, 260 km south of Ankara.  He studied under famous scholars and worked for a local judge.  Soon, people were coming to him for advice, justice, and to listen to his amusing stories.  He is characterized by being a wise man with great wit, but could also be a trickster.  Versions of Nasrettin stories are found throughout the Muslim world, often using different names and claiming different origins.  The folklore is not unlike Paul Bunyan or Mike Fink stories in the U.S.

A collection of stories I found in a Museum bookstore - I was excited to finally find one in English! 

So, why is Nasrettin riding his donkey backwards?  This is the story:
One day Nasrettin was riding his donkey backwards, facing towards the back.
"Hoca" the people said, "you are sitting on your donkey backwards!"
"No," he replied.  "It's not that I am sitting on the donkey backwards,  I'm just interested in where I have been coming from more than where I am going, my friends."

Now we have discovered Nasrettin Hoca, he seems to turn up wherever we visit.....

At the Ankara train station,

Not exactly a donkey though......

In Eskisehir (a city we visited 250 km west of Ankara)

Not exactly sure if this is the right story about the pot:

Nasrettin borrows his neighbor's cauldron and when he returns it he puts a small pot into it.  The neighbor wonders what it's all about.  

"Your cauldron," Nasrettin replies, "was pregnant, it turns out.  That's the baby."

Later Hoca borrowed the cauldron again.  But many days go by and he does not return it.  Finally the neighbor asks for it. With a sad expression, Nasrettin says:

"My condolences.  Your cauldron is dead."

"Come on, Hoca," says the neighbor. "How could a cauldron die?"

"My dear neighbor," Nasrettin retorts, "You had no doubt that it gave birth, yet you doubt if it died!"

Maybe we can attend the International Hoca Nasrettin Fest held every July in his hometown....

Further Afield

Roy took a 3 day work trip last month to Western Turkey and these could be "what is that?" pictures.

The top one are Dalmatian pelicans nesting at Kuscenneti National Park. Kuscenneti translates to 'bird heaven'.  It is a large 26,000+ hectare area, including a large lake, and is an important bird sanctuary and migratory bird stopover.
In the second picture, now really, you can't tell that fork is holding a meatball, can you? So, I don't need to tell you the Turks love their meatballs (this was in the city of Bursa).

To the right is a statue of a 700 year old defender of the Ottoman Empire and below is a Turkish soldier from the Turkish war of independence in the 1920's at the spot where the Greek invaders were stopped just west of Ankara.

At the end of February we took a day-long drive with our new friends from Church to Gordion and Polati.  It was a 1.5 hour drive southwest of Ankara.

 First stop: a museum to see some ancient treasures - we were the only tourists there mid-week and mid-winter.  The entry fee was 3 lira ($1.40) for adults (kids were free).
The artifacts collected in this area covered about 2,000 years of history starting in 1,000 BC.

Gordion pebble (rather than tile) mosaics.  There was a cold wind blowing that day and I was glad for my big coat.

7th century BC safety pins for cloaks/tunics

Tile mosaic of Alexander the Great

Across the road from the museum was this manmade "hill" (called a tumulus).  It is thought (there is some controversy) to be the tomb of King Midas, but is probably his father Gordion.  This is the King Midas of mythological fame with the 'golden touch', but he was a real King who ruled Phrygia (a part of Turkey) in the late 8th century BC.

 Down this long kinda creepy (for claustrophobic me), albeit, dry and clean tunnel was this "burial chamber" made of large logs, Lincoln log style.
In 1957, Rodney Young and a team from the University of Pennsylvania opened a chamber tomb at the heart of the Great Tumulus —53 metres in height, about 300 metres in diameter—on the site of ancient Gordion (modern Yassihöyük, Turkey), where there are more than 100 tumuli of different sizes and from different periods.^[25] They discovered a royal burial, its timbers recently dated as cut to about 740 BC^[26] complete with remains of the funeral feast and "the best collection of Iron Age drinking vessels ever uncovered".^[27] This inner chamber was rather large: 5.15 metres by 6.2 metres in breadth and 3.25 metres high. On the remains of a wooden coffin in the northwest corner of the tomb lay a skeleton of a man 1.59 metres in height and about 60 years old.^[28] In the tomb were found an ornate inlaid table, two inlaid serving stands, and eight other tables, as well as bronze and pottery vessels and bronze fibulae.^[29] Although no identifying texts were originally associated with the site, it was called Tumulus MM (for "Midas Mound") by the excavator. As this funerary monument was erected before the traditional date given for the death of King Midas in the early 7th century BC, it is now generally thought to have covered the burial of his father.  (wikipedia)

Inside the burial chamber - all of the artifacts have been removed.

A large Anatolian Shepard Dog doing his job.  The dogs are excellent protection against feral dogs and there are large lynx in the area that would love a mutton dinner; also, in eastern Turkey wolves are still common.  The sheep dogs wear large sharp metal studded collars for protection.

After the Museum, we drove to a nearby archeological dig (suspended for the winter).  Buttoned my coat and had a great walk about with the older kids, Roy and David, their dad.  Lots of pottery shards and interesting things just laying around.
Besides being famous for King Midas this is also the location where Alexander the Great cut the Gordion knot, which indicated to the people he would become ruler of Asia.  There is only a small village in this area today and it is seldom visited.

After a nice picnic lunch (thank you Marie), which we ate inside the car due to the above mentioned Brrrrr cold wind, we stopped at the city of Polati to see their large market - vegetables, fruit, fish, baked goods as well as clothing.  One stop shopping!  Very good prices and lots of free samples (Mary would love this) - again we were the only foreigners here, but everyone is very friendly, even when we don't speak Turkish, and we felt very safe and it was a fun visit.

Yes, it is 2014, but out of the city it is common to see a few of these around.  Not a great picture because he was moving right along before I could get my camera out of my pocket.  The deliver all sorts of produce and other products - farm fresh!