Since the founding of the republic in 1923 as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has been secular and Kemalist in orientation. The country's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, initiated a modernization of Turkey through social and legal reforms modelled on various European nation states.
The current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been at the helm of the country since 2003. Since around 2012, he has led the country in an increasingly authoritarian manner. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press in particular are considered to be severely restricted. The currency and debt crisis triggered by its economic policies as well as high inflation have continued since 2018, which makes Turkey quite attractive from a tourist perspective.
The culture of today's Turkey is a fusion of the ancient Turkish nomadic culture of Central Asia and Siberia, the Greco-Roman era, the culture in the Ottoman Empire with its Byzantine, Persian, Arabic, Caucasian, Armenian and Kurdish influences, as well as the strong European direction since the founding of the Republic Ataturk. The cultural centre of the country is the metropolis of Istanbul.
With the political changes, the content of Turkish literature also changed. Early representatives include Fakir Baykurt, Sabahattin Ali, Sait Faik Abasıyanık and Yaşar Kemal, who put ordinary people at the centre of their work. With the turn to describing living conditions, social and political criticism of the state is inevitable. The state reacts with censorship and political violence. Authors like Nâzım Hikmet, Yaşar Kemal and Aziz Nesin spend many years in Turkish prisons because of the persecution of their publications. Kemal therefore referred to the prison as a “school of Turkish literature”.
Turkish cuisine has also influenced Greek and the rest of the Balkan cuisine - including etymology. For example, tzaziki comes from the Turkish cacık, and Ćevapčići comes from kabapcik. Yogurt also comes from Turkish Yoğurt. Doner kebab is made from beef, veal or poultry. In Turkey, but also in other countries, the kebab is also served on a plate.
Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey, is described as the pearl of the Aegean. It is a major port and commercial centre set dramatically around a huge bay and backed by mountains to the south.
Turkey is one of the richest countries in wetlands among the countries in Europe and the Middle East. These wetlands have great importance especially for wildlife as well as local economy.
A very big town with the welcoming atmosphere of a village. We stayed out of town in a suburb called Buca in the apartment of our Turkish friend's mother. Everybody was very friendly and we experienced the genuine Turkish way of life, with mealtimes especially being a real family occasion.
Gaziemir is a district of İzmir Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. It is one of the metropolitan districts of Greater İzmir and is situated to the south of central İzmir (Konak) on the road to the İzmir harbour, İzmir Adnan Menderes International Airport and the export processing industrial park of Aegean Free Zone; which is also home to the fourth space camp in the world, Space Camp Turkey.
During our visit at some friends in Didim we had the opportunity to see some places next to the touristic spots of Didim. We heard about an old Greek village with old stone houses, we would like to see.
The marsh area created where piedmonts of Samsun Mountain and Büyük Menderes, which is the longest river of Western Anatolia, extend to meet the sea is one of the most important wetlands of the world today.
Miletus is located (an hour away from Didim) in the city of Soke's Balat village. In ancient times it was on the western coast of Anatolia (currently the province of Aydın), near the Maeander River in ancient Caria.
- The Ancient City of Romantic Breeze
The ancient city of Nysa was a famous settlement in Western Anatolia in Roman-Byzantine times. The well known traveller Strabon of Amaseia described Nysa as a kind of double city as it was situated on either sides of a tributary stream.
Bafa Lake is situated in southwest Turkey, part of it within the boundaries of Milas district of Muğla Province and the northern part within Aydın Province's Soke district, approx. 30 km from Didim.
Traveling through Izmir again, today we will go to the so-called Asansör, a historic passenger and goods elevator in the Konak district, correctly in the Karataş district.
We met Silvia and Anselm at a campsite near Venice as part of our project "Comprehension and Cultural Trip along Roman Roads" and were able to experience their experience and knowledge of the city of Venice on a shared city tour. For the first time with the two of them, the idea of wintering for campers on the Turkish Riviera was pushed so strongly that we subsequently looked more and more into this possibility.
We drove through the foothills of the Taurus over wonderful pass roads near Ermenek to the apricot town of Mut and then continued our way towards Karaman. Patrick, our paragliding friend from Strasbourg, had reported courageously about the ruins of a basilica and a wonderfully shimmering lake during a sightseeing flight in the region, which he had seen from the air near the town of Dağ Pazarı.
Kumkuyu, the modern Turkish name of the ancient settlement area of the semi-nomadic Tirtar ethnic group, is located in the south of Erdemli County on the D-400 highway, about 15 kilometres southwest of the district town of the same name and about 50 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital Mersin.
A few years have passed since we were last on the 400-meter-high mountain right next to the new road tunnels near Alanya to visit the Helenistic ruined city of Hamaxia, which is just over half an hour's walk and within sight of Cleopatra's beach.
On the way to Sanliurfa we first passed Adana on the toll road E90 towards Ceyhan.
After visiting Yilan Kalesi fortress near Ceyhan and some very interesting days in Sanliurfa and Göbekli Tepe, we arrived in Tarsus on the way back towards Alanya.
We accepted the invitation to participate in the event "Human Landscapes - Six Author Portraits of Turkey" at Akdeniz University (AKVAM) in cooperation with the Goethe Institute Izmir, which included the seminar on the presentation of 6 well-known writers (Nazim Hikmet, Yasar Kemal, Orhan Pamuk , Elif Safak, Murathan Mungan, Asli Erdogan) by the documentary filmmaker Osman Okkan in his own facility in Adrasan.
Another sight of Roman antiquity awaits the traveller of the Kizkalesi area at the end of a river bed, which the locals call Devil's Valley. Almost always dry as a bone in summer, you can use the Teufelstal river bed for a hike to the ancient stone sculptures of people – let’s go to Adamkayalar.
Excavations in the extremely fertile region of the Göksu Delta show a number of prehistoric relics, so that the settlement history at Silifke can be traced back to at least the Bronze Age.
Shortly after our return to Turkey, after an extensive round trip through Germany, our friend Detlef from Halle announced that he would be visiting us for the coming weekend.