Places to see and Food to Eat in Turkey

The First step towards going to Turkey-Getting a visa.

                                   Konya

Turkey visit 

The places to visit are many. You have to make a profile of yourself. So what are you going to see?

If you are Ertrugrul and Kurulus Osman fan visit Konya.

Konya

A city in Central Anatolia. The city's history goes back to 7000 BC.

So people already around before Islam came:

• Copper Age People

• Bronze Age People

• Hittites

• Lydians

• Persians 

• Romans

• Byzantines.

Finally, Muslim Ottomans led by Mehmed Fatih conquered Constantinople in 1453 CE. Later this city was called Istanbul.

There was a movie called 1453 and also tv series on the above.

The name Konya

 There are two myths:

• Legend of Perseus

• Two Muslim religious saints.  They were traveling over the west. One of the dervish(holy man) asks his companion “Shall I land?” and the other companion replies:

The answer was:” Sure Land” or Kon ya.

In the 10th century, the Anatalinian Seljuk, or Sultanate of Rum made Konya their capital.

Religious

Konya is the most conservative city in Turkey.  

Experience in Konya.

The experience is what counts. Full of history, the whirling Dervishes, and delicious food.

Sites to see:

• Rumi’s Sarcophagus at the Mevlana Museum. The museum is about Sufis and Melvana Jalaluddin Rumi. Interesting.

Rumi was well known Poet. Some of his sayings :

“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”

Try etliekmek.  It is said to be life life-changing experience but vegetarians have to be on alert. This food consists of:

• Ground beef

• onions

• tomato

• other ingredients

Eat at lunchtime (noon).

Bedestan Bazaar

This is another experience taking you back to the Ottoman time about 1538. Originally supposed to be two thousand years old.  The word Bedesten comes from the Persian word bezestan, meaning cloth.

Things to buy:

• traditional clothes

• carpets

• souvenirs

• jewelry

• food

An exclusive New Market of Kolkata, but much grand and exclusive.

Interesting facts related to Indian sub-continent 

Shah Jalal a Sufi saint who is well known in Indian Sub-continent was from Konya according to an inscription in Sylhet, Bangladesh.

Turkish elements in Indian Muslim culture:

• khatun(women)

• Sherbet or the tradition of giving a drink to travelers

• Aryan is similar to lassi? Maybe

• Followers of Abu Hanifa, a Muslim jurst.

 Turkey a -bridge between Europe and Asia

Turkey is a  great destination to travel. But I think you should study about the history and culture of the people before going . Sure there many places to visit :beach ,food St Sophia, etc .

 Study the history of the people. Actually Turkish people are not from Turkey . They came from another land . It is not just one country with Turkish people but many and they are related . Two thousand years ago Turkish and Mongolian had the same ancestor.

Here is the history.

 Ancient Turks and origins.

The ancient Turkish were called Gok Turks or Kok Turks.  They were nomadic tribes and 1^st in Mongolia to identify them as “Turk”. The 1^st reference to Turks were in Chinese Records of about 2000 BC. About 4000 years ago. The records refer to Husiung-nu, an early form of Western Hun.’ They lived in area bounded by Altai Mountains, Lake Baikal and northern edge of the Gobi Desert.

Early Turks:

The Huns were considered as somehow related to ancestors of the Turks. Interestingly the Hungarians were considered as Turks by the Byzantine Empire.

The Huns:

They were nomadic tribe who were very skilled in archery and as horsemen. The Huns burst into Europe suddenly in 370 CE somewhat. The other barbarians were fleeing the Huns! The Huns went through the “Gateway of the Nations”. The huns were a mystery, they came from nowhere’ and they vanished suddenly. This reminds me of Dhul Qarnian and Yajuj and Magug(Gog and Magog)  of the Quran or two horned one. Dhul Qarnian was a might powerful king who was requested by a certain people, having no refuge from the sun. A place bounded by two mountains and a lake. A wall was constructed made of molten copper between the mountains. Probably some where in Kyrgyzstan or Caucaus. We will not discuss in this post. But while writing similarities could be found between Huns and Islamic view of Yajuj and Majuj.

The verse in the Quran is as follows:

They said, “O Dhul-Qarnayn, indeed (Ya’juj) Gog and Magog (Ma’juj) are [great] corrupters in the land. So may we assign for you an expenditure that you might make between us and them a barrier?”

 --Al Quran

Language:

The earliest form of Turkish writings was found in Mongolia. Approximately some 2500-3000 years ago Turkish language is thought to have evolved. It is thought to be part of Altaic Language family, which is common ancestor of following languages:

·         Turkish

·         Korean

·         Japanese

The earliest written record is in early 8^th century by the Gok Turks.  They are called Orkhon inscriptions written in Old Turkic language.  The two memorials were erected in the honor of two Turkic princes:

·         Kul Tigin

·         Bilge Khagan- lived from 683 CE to 734 CE.

Origins from Prophet Nuh(Noah in Bible, and maybe Manu of Hindu Scriptures).

According to Abul Ghazi Khan (who was the Khan of Kiva, located in Uzbekistan), Prophet Yafith(Japeth) settled “between the yaqiq and itil rivers(Ural and Volga). He had 8 sons and eldest being Turk. The Turks descended from Turk.

Religion:

The Turks before Islam believed in Shamanism but believed also that there was a God and He was in the sky. These Turks were called Gok Turks. (Sky turks). Then there were other turks called as Ay Turks who believed the moon is supported by the God.

We talk about the Gok Turks for now since we have an idea of the origins. Also we have an understanding on why Turkey has a Crescent like in Kurulus Osman. But one thing is clear like Mongols, they have a strong sense of Asabiyyah’ which is an Arabic word. This means Social Cohesion or group feeling in regards to tribalism.

Ibn Khaldun, the great Muslim Arab historian said about the Mongols:

None of the kings on erath is equal in their asabiya,nor chroses ,nor Caesar,not Aleander ,nor Nebuchadnezzar

“   “

The Gok Khanate

Khanate was a political entity ruled by a Khan, Khagan, Khatun or Khanam.  At first, I thought Khan, Khagan meant same thing. The Turkish Soldiers took the latter two to the Indian continent that is how in India and Pakistan you get Muslim women having Khatun as surname. Even some Muslim in India and non-Muslims look down upon the surname being ‘Khatun’. I even did, thought illiterate Muslim girls had ‘khatun’ as their surname.

Khagan translates to emperor. Literally translated means “Khan of Khans”.  This has similarity with the Persians who use “Shah” Shahen Shah meaning king of kings. No wonder Persians and Turks were competitor in lot of things.

The Rouran Khaganate(350 CE -555 CE) was the first to sue these titles. 

Origins of Gok Turks

The Gok Turks originated from the Ashina clan, who lived in area of China called Xinjiang. The Ashina clan or the wolf clan. No wonder the wolf is said to ne popular with historical Turkish series like Kurulus Osman by Mehmet Bozdag.

Legend of the Wolf and Ashina Clan.

The legend goes to explain the origins of the Ashina. Clan. There was a boy who had survived a battle. A wolf finds the boy, saves and nurses him back to health. The boy impregnates (according to the legend) the wolf and gives birth to 10 half wolf and half humans This is where you get a legend about werewolves.  A branch of Ashina clan was said to come to Japan in 6^th century.

The Gok Turk Khanate

The GokTurk (also known as Celestial Turks or Blue turks) founded the empire in 552 CE after defeating the Roururan Overlords.  The two brothers Bumain and Istemi founded the empire. Bumin declared himself as Khagan but later died after a year. His brother Istemi was made viceroy or yagbu of the western division. Rome was founded by two brothers, too.

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Following is an excerpt from Gokturk-Khanate-History-Turkish-Turkish-History-Ertugul

Source :Amazon.