50 reasons to love Turkey

 
1 The Bosporus. Its breeze, ferry boats, sea gulls, bridges and waterfront mansions… There is even a song written for the Bosporus only. The city divided by the sea or a sea having a city on the side. With its roses, redbuds and lovers, the Bosporus is the most magical part of Turkey.

2 People. “Guest is God” An unexpected knock at the door… The guest is God. Turks know that all people are visitors in this world. From thinker Rumi to singer Müslim Gürses, don't all say the same thing? Turkish hospitality is as famous as rakı and kebab. A housewife preparing pastries for her guests at the 5 o'clock teas, an old man sitting at a traditional Turkish café and turning his face towards the Sun in southern Turkey, or a dolmuş driver saying, “If you don't have change, never mind,” or kids playing with bottle caps in narrow streets, or shrewd “discovering” LPG gas tanks for Ferraris… they all are unique to Turkey. People love this country, because it's home…. It is home, sweet home.

3 Hamsi (Turkish whitebait). Known as “hamsi” in Turkey “whitebait is not a fish, it is more than a fish” for people in the Black Sea region. It is not a side dish at dinner tables; there are many songs, folk songs, poems, and anecdotes written on hamsi. So, really … it is more than a fish in Turkey. There is no meal not including Turkish whitebait in the Black Sea, especially. It is even eaten at breakfasts and jams are made with hamsi. One shouldn't forget to list the varieties of hamsi dishes, from its pilaf to stuffed versions, from steamed to fried whitebaits. So it is more than a fish, indeed. Even in luxury seafood restaurants in Istanbul and Ankara, invaded by freshwater perches and breams, whitebait is served with the taste of sea… Hamsi comes to shore in early fall and the fiesta continues until March. It is cheap; it is the food of the poor… But, it has always a spot on the tables of the rich… Though there is a kind that lives in the Marmara Sea, we suggest you to never give up on whitebait of the Black Sea.

4 Antalya. Pass the Hadrian's Gate, meaning the Three Gates in Turkish, and walk down the hill… Hold your breath. If you wish, take another route and walk down from the Yivli Minaret, but then again, hold your breath when you head to the old port. Go to Kemer or stretch to Belek, if you wish… The Mount Beydağı always waits for you, don't worry. God is so generous when it comes to the natural beauty of this country. So, we, Turks, embrace the people of inland countries. Generosity of God and hospitality of Turkey, no wonder they don't want to go back to their countries…Beautiful Antalya. That's our garden in Heaven, with a single difference you don't have to apply for visa.

5 Orhan Pamuk. Two years had passed by following the military coup; lightly humpbacked a slim young man with messy hair – seven years after he decided to be a novelist – was looking at his novel on the display window of a book store: “Cevdet Bey and His Sons.” After that, “The House of Silence,” “The White Castle,” “The Black Book,” “The New Life,” “My Name is Red,” “The Other Colors,” “Snow” and “Memories and the City” followed. But we love this man who became the winner of the Nobel Literature Prize of 2006, with a sentence from his book, “The New Life”: “One day, I read a book and my life has changed.” Thanks to him, the Nobel Prize belongs to Turkish literature this year.









6 Turkish coffee. The hopes and dreams of our lives are hidden in the bottom of a coffee cup, waiting to be read by a fortune-teller. Love and money will appear as well, after we drink a cup of Turkish coffee. As a matter of fact, its name is the Turkish coffee; however, as known, it originally came from Yemen. First, it became popular for its exhilarating effect and reached Istanbul in the 1550s. The reason for its being called Turkish coffee is for the method Turks use to make the coffee. Coffee grounds remain in the bottom of the cup and after that there comes a fortune reading session. Isn't this the very reason that makes Turkish coffee unique and beloved, at least by Turks?

7 Turkish women. As the famous poet Nazım Hikmet Ran said in one of his poems, “Our women… Our mother, our wife, our lover…” "They died as if they never lived, we didn't know most of them, we didn't see, we didn't hear: Our mothers granting their share of bread to their children, white velvet skins of our lovers, a shelter for our spirits to rest" Perhaps, in a very few countries, like Turkey, women are excluded and insulted, just for being a woman. Turkish women, against all odds, ascended to their position in society today; they rely on only self-strength. They became our future in the sky like the first Turkish woman pilot like Sabiha Gökçen, a beauty queen of the world, as proof to the beauty of Turkish women like Azra Akın. Our women reached out to the poor, to homeless, to street children, to elderly and embrace them all with their big hearts. Turkey always rises on the shoulders of women.

8 Backgammon. Backgammon is life itself in Turkey. Though some say it is a game of chance, ignore them because it is a game of strategy. You have to be swift and know how to hold dice. It is fun, it is laughter.

9 National and religious feasts. National and religious feasts are called “bayram” in Turkish. They are the joy of monotonous life, colour to our black-and-white lives, a condolence for our loneliness. That's why old bayrams are always reminders of a childhood full of life, joy and happiness, though they are a bit sad.

10 Hürriyet. A Turkish daily newspaper; almost 60 years old: Memory of entire Turkey. It is cheerful, whimsical, sentimental and earnest. Every social class reads this paper. It's a habit, habit of daily life, like a ritual… It is impossible to be copied. Every one makes new stories, but when written in Hürriyet, it is on the agenda of the country.

11 Girls of İzmir. A famous Turkish Poet Cahit Külebi says:“The sea is a girl in İzmir. And a girl is the sea. The smells of the streets of İzmir.” Both the girl and the sea! All right, what makes girls in İzmir this unique? Let's say it at once: They are always hip and beautiful, both inside and outside. Girls of İzmir don't know the meaning of rage. They all are carefree. If girls in İzmir can't enjoy the life … they say, “Maybe, next time” because light-hearted and happy, all are …

12 The Blue Voyage. Recreational boating tours along Turkey's spectacular south western coasts are called the Blue Cruise, a.k.a. Blue Voyage. The Blue Voyage season starts in June and ends in October. Though the summer time is ideal for sunbathing on deck, Autumn is the most enjoyable time of such a travel in the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas, because calm and abundant fish wait for you…



13 Orhan Gencebay “My beloved friends”. “My beloved friends, I am Orhan Gencebay. I have been singing for you, sharing your sorrow. I cry for you and laugh with you. I am Orhan Gencebay grew up with your applause and love, taking his strength for you…,” says Gencebay on the cover of his CD dated 1998. Like his songs, Gencabay himself is a classic, too. He is the father, the East, the West, the gentle, the villager and the city dweller. He is a philosopher of music… Gencebay is like Turkey, because his works accompany our youth, memories and lives. “For a more beautiful, more just and more humanitarian world,” says he in one of his masterpieces. "One loves Turkey for the sake of Orhan Baba as well".

14 Rakı. Rakı is both the traditional and national Turkish alcoholic beverage of choice, similar to Greek ouzo. It is the most useful, creative “discovery” of Turkish men. Rakı is treated the way VIP guests are treated at dinner tables. Rakı's colour turning to white when mixed with water completes the white linen tablecloths. A colourful selection of appetizers or small dishes, meze, is served with Rakı. That's all and all is a beauty itself.

15 Nazim Hikmet (RAN) (1902, Thessalonica - June 3, 1963, Moscow). A Turkish poet, playwright, novelist and memoirist. I Love My Country I love my country: Among the elms I ran up against its breadth, I landed up in prison. Nothing can remove the pain inside of malice my country's songs and tobacco. My country:Bedreddin, Sinan, Yunus Emre and Sakarya Factory chimneys and lead cupolas. Even when they are hiding from themselves Smiling under their drooping moustaches, are my peoples' monuments. My country: How broad my country is: Our wanderings need never end, it seems inexhaustible to us. Edirne, İzmir, Ulukışla, Maraş, Trabzon, Erzurum. I know Erzurum's plateaus only from its folk songs. And to the South am ashamed to say I have never once passed through the Taurus Mountains to see the cotton workers. My country: camels, trains, Ford cars and sick donkeys, poplars willows and red earth. My country. Its pine forests, the trout which love its sweetest waters and its mountain top lakes And their half a kilo The reddish glow of their smooth silver skin Swims on the surface of Bolu's Abant lake. My country: goats in Ankara's meadows: their long, brown, silky hair's shine. The fat, heavy hazelnuts of Giresun. The scarlet cheeks of Amasya's fragrant apples, olives figs melons and the richly colourful bunches and bunches of grapes and the ploughs and the water buffaloes and ready to embrace with child-like joy everything progressive, beautiful and good my industrious, honourable, brave people half -starving, half-full half-prisoner...

16 Hollywood of Turkey, Yeşilçam Many came, served and left the white screen: Yeşilçam, the Hollywood of Turkey. We forget our sorrows with the help of Turkish films. We cry with the hopeless lovers of dead-end loves, then family dramas in which Münir Özkul and Adile Naşit as the lead actor and actress strengthen our family ties too. And comedy films with Kemal Sunal, Halitakçatepe. We sometimes got angry at the evil characters, acted by Aliye Rona and Erol Taş. With its good, bad and evil; with its tragedy and comedy, the Turkish cinema tells the story of this land superbly.

17 İstiklal Avenue. The crowd, noise, declarations of love, fights of lovers, street musicians, trailers, bells of churches, cafes, book stores, bars, music stores, movie theatres, building full of history, drunks, street vendors, police, demonstrations, people happy, people sad, people alone… People are in İstiklal Avenue. Time is running fast in the İstiklal Avenue and makes hard to concentrate on nothing but the moment you live in this lifeblood of the supernova Istanbul. One cannot experience such energy in the other parts of the world.



18 Tarkan. When this handsome green-eyed Turkish pop star took the stage for the first time with “Kıl Oldum Abi,” some didn't like him and some fell in love with him. His second album with the support of Sezen Aksu followed; a song titled “Şıkıdım” took Tarkan to the top. But what makes Turks to like him is his decency and highborn demeanour against scandalous events.

19 Street cats and dogs. We learn clemency from dogs and cats in streets. We never give up on caressing them, though we were grown with a “learned” fear from the warnings of our mothers saying, “It'll bite don't get close.” We were jealous of them, their being playful. Cats and dogs in streets didn't make the choice to live outside, didn't want to live in busy traffic and didn't like to dash out the trash bags. We'll claim them and find homes for them. 20 Yellow signs. In any colour, in any shape and in any dialect of Turkish, yellow street signs form a different culture in this country. There is no end to them pointing to a king mausoleum for centuries or to the oldest mummy of the world. They are in every direction from Rize to Mardin, from Ankara to the South. When one sees this bash of signs, says to himself: “Some day, I will take all the routes they point to,” all of a sudden the yellow signs create a retirement dream for one: “Some day, I will…”

21 Bodrum. A famous Turkish novelist, ethnographer and travelogue, Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, alias The Fisherman of Halicarnassus deeply fell in love with Bodrum. “At top of the uphill, you'll see Bodrum Don't think you will leave as you are Those before you, were like you too But all left their minds in Bodrum.” Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı / Halikarnas Balıkçısı

22 National Football Team. After that legendary score, five years passed by… İlhan Mansız created that legendary score before the team of Senegal. It was like a slap to our oppressed feelings, took Turkish National Football Team to the bronze medal of the World Championship in 2002. That day, a new period has begun in the country; we made a truce with ourselves. And here we thank all football legends of Turkey from past to present.

23 Mardin. From Muslim to Assyrians, from Yakubis to Yezidis, members of different religious sects and religions, many live in Mardin, a bridge between the Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Its stone houses, inns, mosques, madrasahs and church, this Southeastern city is like an open-air museum, and that make it unique. Not only we but also UNESCO think so, by including the city in the World Heritage List.

24 Wine. Neither California nor France vineyards should be haughty… Turks have songs written for wine; show me another nation doing the same. From Cappadocia to Tokat, from Midyat to Akhisar, we have widespread vineyards.

25 Turkish Bath. We better categorize the Turkish bath into two: men and women baths… Women's bath is a mysterious place where young girls during the Ottoman reign were protected against evil eyes by numerous rituals. Men's bath is another story. The masseurs in the baths, tellak in Turkish, rule the place. Though nowadays, “light” sessions are presented to tourists, the Turkish baths were home of conversations on love, patience, secrets and jokes for centuries. But they are the home of intrigues, gossips and ambition as well.

26 Sezen Aksu. Last year, when a foreign television music channel attempted not to play the songs of this Turkish pop diva, all music stations and Turkish televisions played her albums and video clips over and over again just to spite that channel. Facing such a tremendous voice of love, the poor channel was baffled by the reaction. Sezen Aksu is Ümmü Gülsüm (Umm Qalsum) of Turkey. Just like this eternal Egyptian singer, Turkish people listen to Sezen's songs, lullabies or poems, in whatever form and wherever. A person who has never listened to Sezen Aksu cannot be found. She is like a teacher, everyone is willing to take her course; course on life, love, sorrow and hope in her songs.

27 Football schmooze. First off, the club management doesn't know this business… What a technical director! He places the players in wrong positions! In Turkey, this is a typical football schmooze. Every man knows about football and every man is a soccer coach! The same clichés are repeated over and over again; how attractive they are, how unique, how relaxing and how Turkish. Football schmooze might be more important than global warming, social discrimination, or economic dire straits… It safes lives! It takes off of the burden on our lives. It is indispensable.

28 Comics magazines. Adventure of Turkey's cartoons began with Akbaba continued with the Gırgır by the leadership of Oğuz Aral, renowned cartoonists. On Fridays, the days Gırgır is published, all Istanbul streets turned into yellow because everyone was reading this comics magazine printed on yellow pages. Once, its circulation reached a half million a day. Then, the Mikrop and Limon followed. The Leman determined the Turkey's cartoon literature. Today, with its minimalist humour the Penguen takes the lead and Fermuar is another shining star.

29 Turkish entrepreneurs. The seeds of Turkish marketing and advertisement industry were sown in vapurs - conventional Turkish ferry boats - in train stations and bus terminals, when street vendors, ferryboat vendors or train vendors tried to sell the goods on their sluggish trays in hand. We laughed so hard when the sellers shout, “Caps for the twins,” referring to bras. These heroes showed courage by trying to sell their goods even in deserted areas. But now, the seeds grew up to be the young successful entrepreneurs of Turkey. The Mavi jeans-wear now ornament display windows in the stores of Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. “We are getting more beautiful,” read the Mavi billboards, as Turks when we hear the success stories of Turkish entrepreneurs, we are getting more beautiful as well.

30 Skyscrapers of Istanbul. Back in the old days, the tallest structure in Istanbul was the Highway Authority's 12-floor building located on the Levent-Maslak line. Today, this building is the smallest among many skyscrapers that have been built since the midst of 1990s. New high-rise buildings and new malls created a new type of people. Perhaps, the tremendous change that Turkey has been going through for the last decade could be observed by looking at these towers not by the statistical data.

31 Friendships in Ankara. Ankara is a city of civil servants in their suits, neck-ties and white shirts. That could be monotonous for some, but they do not know about the friendship in the Turkish capital. Contrary of its bureaucratic atmosphere, friendship here is so warm. Never mind the tiny bit details of live, but friends in Ankara share life itself.

32 Radikal 2. One cannot “scan through” the pages of Radikal 2, as a weekend supplement. The correct word for that must be to “read” every single line of it. Answers in every wavelength of the spectrum and end to intellectual quest are nested among its pages. Radikal 2 is a guide to richness in colour, colour of Turkey and colour of the world.

33 Istanbul Modern (Art Museum). People do not like the neighbourhood around ports. No traces of cultural elites are found in ports. However, we the Turks, succeeded to introduce elites to such quarters thanks to the Istanbul Modern Art Museum, or Istanbul Modern in short. In 2004, the museum opened in one of the warehouses of the Karaköy Port. The Turkish curatorship adventure starting with the Aya İrini (St. Irene) in 1868 reached a climax at Istanbul Modern.

34 Plateaus of Black Sea. An incredibly beautiful view, clean air and warm people… All in the Black Sea plateaus, indispensables of the region… As soon as the weather gets hot, people in the Black Sea leave sea shores and move to plateaus… It is bliss to watch the city down below, on the heights, above the clouds. Rain, fog and clouds suit well to the Black Sea plateaus. The most famous are: Çambaşı of the city of Ordu, Sis Dağı of Giresun, Uzungöl of Trabzon, Ayder of Rize and Kafkasör of Artvin.

35 Tripe soup and kokoreç. It is almost a habit to head to restaurants serving tripe soup after hanging around and getting drunk at nightclubs or bars. This traditional Turkish soup is served with plenty of garlic sauce; red-hot crushed pepper and vinegar, but of course heated conversations tag alone too. Kokoreç is another “unique” taste in Turkish Cuisine. Prepared with grilled intestines, Turks will not negotiate with the European Union on Kokoreç, if the union finds it unhealthy!

36 Cem Yılmaz. Cem Yılmaz as a stand-up comedian is the blithe of Turkey. May God grant him a long life?

37 Goldsmiths. The history of goldsmiths in Anatolia goes back to the Urartians. From Mardin to Trabzon, from Diyarbakır to Van, the artistry of a goldsmith speaks high. Regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, they are all “masters.” The word is attached to their Armenian, Turkish or Assyrian names. They are the masters of jewellery, of gold craftsmanship in Anatolia.

38 Şener Şen. As the heart-melting performing artist of Turkey, Şener Şen is one of us. We never tire of watching him. Though he is actor of leading roles in “Züğürt Ağa,” “Çıplak Vatandaş,” “Namuslu,” “Eşkıya” and “Muhsin Bey,” Şen is unforgettable in The Class of Hababam with his role as a clumsy physical education teacher in a high school. Şen is one the few showing the courage to get up to the stage in a musical despite his “not so young” age. Turks will never give up on watching him.

39 The Class of Hababam. The Class of Hababam, nostalgic passion of Turks. Like the children who never free of thirst… thirst to reading the same stories zillions of times, we watch the Class of Hababam God knows how many times. Its legendary film music makes us cry and laugh at the same time. Tarık Akan, Halit Akçatepe, Adile Naşit, Kemal Sunal, Şener Şen and Münir Özkul as the stars of Turkish cinema and theatre claimed their place in the hearts of all. We feel sympathy for school authority and the authority begins to like “Dennis the Menaces” thanks to The Class of Hababam.

40 The Galata Tower. Think about a tale on flying. It is the heritage of Genoese, evidence of Old İstanbul. When you make to the terrace of the tower, 360-degree panoramic view of the city is under your feet so to speak. You may want to scream out, “Hey Istanbul! Look, I am here!” Just like Hazerfen Ahmet Çelebi, who made first flight in the history by affixing wings? He flew from the Tower of Galata to Üsküdar.

41 Yaşar Kemal. Considered to be one of the best Turkish novelists Kemal taught Turkish people how to love and how to realize the natural beauty of nature. In the end, Kemal accomplished to help us to think how much we are getting destitute by staying away from the nature, help us to realize if we don't love humanity and nature, we will all be lost eventually. Winner of an endless number of literature awards, Kemal was noticed for his work “İnce Memed (Memed, My Hawk) published in 1955.

42 Kebab, Shish kebab and rakı. Tourists visiting Turkey talk about the duo for years. However, hundreds of varieties of kebabs are known and served in Turkey. Almost all restaurants became experts in kebab business. So, we have hundreds of restaurants ready to serve Adana kebab, Urfa kebab, Antep kebab, Kilis kebab, etc.

43 Primetime sitcoms/ series. Pulling Turks to living rooms to watch primetime sitcoms or television series are the dreams in “Asmalı Konak,” simple lives in “Perihan Abla,” impossible love in “Hırsız Polis.” Love is the main theme of all, regardless of the story and good always win.

44 Eternal rivals: Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray. A century long rivalry: Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray derby game. Every single football match they face each other looks like a cinema film: includes love, passion, ambition, happiness, joy and tears… You'll find anything in these games, you name it. The yellow-reds of Galatasaray is proud with its “blue blood” background, as the dark blue-yellow Fenerbahçe says, “I am the people. I am Turkey.” Though they are eternal rivals, “Thank God that you are,” they whisper to one another… a love. The Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray rivalry is love in Turkey.

45 Beşiktaş Bazaars. On game days, the Beşiktaş Bazaar is reborn. A crowd flows to the İnönü Stadium. The slogans are chanted all over the place: “We are Etoo,” or a bit intellectual: “Bazaar is against nuclear plants”. Of course, a Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray derby is not the only reason for the locals of Beşiktaş Bazaar to love Turkey.

46 Çay and Simit (Turkish tea and bagel). A fresh traditional Turkish bagel, Simit, newly bought from the bakery should accompany with a newly steeped a cup of tea. That is the most typical Turkish habit and most possibly whoever rejects to drink tea is not a Turk. If somewhere a full teapot is ready for serving, a street vendor is selling simits in somewhere else. And if there is no street vendor selling simits, most probably the country is not Turkey.

47 Vapurs. It's a privilege for İzmir and Istanbul. Vapurs, conventional Turkish ferry boats, carry their passengers in winter or summer. They are also beauty of inner seas in İzmir and Istanbul. People of any age enjoy getting on vapurs for a sea breeze, or watching seagull or drinking tea on docks. The travel with vapurs is like a play; it is fun and cheerful. Besides, the “ancestors” of young and successful Turkish entrepreneurs, whom we mentioned above, are in business on docks, busy with selling their goods, such as comb or hair clips, pins.

48 Rumi. No need to say much, the following poem of the greatest humanitarian mystic and thinker, Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, says it all: In generosity and helping others be like river, In compassion and grace be like sun, In concealing others' faults be like night, In anger and fury be like dead, In modesty and humility be like earth, In tolerance be like sea, Either exist as you are or be as you look. UNESCO announced the year of 2007 as the Year of Rumi.

49 The Kenters. The Kenters is the most famous theatrical faces of Turkey. Yıldız Kenter and her brother Müşfik Kenter are a school. They are the illuminating and contemporary face of the Republic looking at art. Yıldız Kenter is a unique woman in Turkish theatre. With her passion for her art, despite all odds, she still stands and her theatre The Kenters Theatre survive without state subsidy and remains free.

50 Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey. He is the man behind these 50 reasons to love this country, because we wouldn't be here without him. We owe him everything. Article adapted and reproduced by kind permission of the Turkish Daily News. It is a translation by TDN of the original article which appeared in Tempo Magazine. It is provided for interest and enjoyment but Hulya Gray accepts no responsibility for the contents or any errors that may appear in the article.

Taken from an article published in Turkey's English-language newspaper, the Turkish Daily News (TDN) on Saturday, March 31, 2007. Originally published in the Turkish Weekly magazine Tempo and translated by TDN, it’s an alluring guide to the country that you won’t find in the guidebooks. It's aimed at a Turkish audience and readers from other countries may not connect with everything that's written here, but it does give us a different, and a native view, of the country and its culture