$Unique_ID{COW03787} $Pretitle{280} $Title{Turkey Tourist Tips} $Subtitle{} $Author{Turkish Tourist Society} $Affiliation{Turkish Embassy, Washington DC} $Subject{turkey turkish ottoman state turkey's visas ataturk kemal war first} $Date{1990} $Log{} Country: Turkey Book: Focus on the New Turkey Author: Turkish Tourist Society Affiliation: Turkish Embassy, Washington DC Date: 1990 Tourist Tips Get a fresh perspective on Istanbul by taking a boat trip on the Bosphorus or one of the large comfortable ferryboats to the Prince Islands in the Sea of Marmara. In general, Turkish museums are closed on Mondays. The Topkapi Palace is closed on Tuesdays. Be extra careful how you cross the road in Istanbul driving is on the right. Leave in good time for appointments, particularly during rush hour. SIT DOWN TO ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT CUISINES Ottoman troops, who grilled chunks of lamb on their swords round the campfire before battle, would no doubt be astonished at the popularity today of their idea. But the traveller to Turkey who knows only of sis (shish) kebab has exciting discoveries to make. Some experts rank Turkish cooking at its best with the French and Chinese as the world's three great cuisines. Turkish culinary arts blend the earthy traditions of country cooking with subtle skills once developed for the sultans, adding a dash of Mediterranean influence for good measure. Turkey is one of the few nations that produces all its own food, thus assuring the diner both of superb freshness and low cost. What should the tourist look for? For a start, starters. Turkish mezes offer a stunningly varied and delicious selection: fried mussels, cacik yoghurt and cucumber, stuffed vineleaves, kofte lamb meatballs, fried spiced aubergines, hot pastries of herbs and cheese or meat, stuffed peppers and tomatoes, an endless list. As four seas wash Turkey's shores, the visitor can follow the mezes by sampling such marine riches as red mullet, sea bass, swordfish, squid, giant prawns. These are often accompanied, as are lamb and beef dishes, by salad and rice. Pilav, rice Turkish style, is not a filler but an experience. One tasty version is prepared with pine nuts, currants, butter, spices and herbs. A little rarer but even more succulent is Circassian chicken. This exc dish is flavoured with pounded walnuts, garlic and paprika, and is said to originate from the comely palace concubines of the Caucasus. And for dessert? Turkish sweets, memorably named the Nightingale's Nest, the Lady's Navel, the Minister's Finger, and the Lips of the Beautiful Beloved are mainly based on nuts, syrup and pastry. Excellent fresh fruit and milk puddings provide an alternative, along with the incomparable Turkish Delight, lokum. It may surprise visitors to learn that Turkey is the 10th largest wine producer in the world. The earliest known ancient people who had a deity for fertility represented with a bunch of grapes happen to be the Hittites; the word "wine" also originates from the Hittite language. As for a national long drink, it has to be raki, powerful, aniseedflavoured, turning milky with water. Locals dub it 'lion's milk'. Proceed with caution. No day in Turkey is complete without numerous stops for that strong, black brew known worldwide as Turkish Coffee. Even the shortstay visitor will find the tiny cups a habit easily acquired. Specify whether you like it without sugar, medium or sweet. Turkish breakfast, by the way, put many a continental roll to shame. Freshbaked bread, cheese, olives, tomatoes, yoghurt and honey, fresh fruit and boiled eggs will be on offer in many combinations to set the traveller up for the morning. Whatever the meal, eating is a leisurely, pleasurable event in Turkey. Sitting outside under a leafy trellis enjoying a lunch of delightful variety, the visitor may well feel that life tastes very good. Afiyet olsun TOURIST TIPS Main Turkish taverns and dining places: Kahve: menonly establishment; serves coffee, tea, refreshments. Lokanta: serves homecooked Turkish meals with nonalcoholic drinks. Ickili lokanta: as above but licensed for beer, alcoholic drinks. Gazino: as above plus entertainment. Kebapci: serves various Turkish grills. Pideci: Turkish pizzeria, "pide" parlour Restoran: serves Turkish and international cuisine, alcoholic drinks. Order from the food display in a restaurant's cold cabinet rather than from the menu. It's easier and you'll have the choiceoftheday. Turkish mineral water, carbonated or still, is inexpensive. Drink it, as locals do, in preference to tap water which can taste chlorinated. THE SKILLS OF CENTURIES...BROUGHT UP TO DATE In the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul tourists stand enthralled before an enamelled and gold throne studded with 25,000 jewels. In the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara they are plunged back in time by a display of artefacts dating from a Bronze Age settlement that traded with Troy. Inside the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, visitors are awed by the thousandwindowed design and incomparable ceramic decoration of this 16th century masterpiece. For people interested in the decorative arts, Turkey spreads forth a feast. There is staggering opulence. The Ottoman Sultans indulged in conspicuous consumption of precious metals and gems. Topkapi's imperial jewel collection houses an 86carat diamond, a single uncut emerald tipping the scales at over 7000 ounces, and a chess set hewn from rock crystal, each piece topped by a ruby or emerald set in gold. There are techniques of incredible delicacy filigree jewellery, marbling used to decorate books, more than ten script forms of calligraphy, inlay work in motherofpearl, ivory, gold and silver, stunning ranges of glowing silks. The arts also supply fascinating glimpses into a past in which a dozen civilizations, including Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Selcuk and Ottoman came and went and bequeathed their treasures and skills. One such skill to cross the centuries is in ceramics. Ceramic wall tiles developed into the most distinctive element in Selcuk and Ottoman architecture, adorning fountains, palaces, mansions, libraries, Turkish baths and mosques. Tulips were a favoured tile motif. Floral and leaf patterns in shining turquoise, cobaltblue, coralred and deep green ornamented the finest tiles of the 16th century, when some 300 kilns and factories were flourishing in Iznik, the ancient city of Nicaea. After an artistic decline during 18001900, ceramics have been reestablished and artists are now producing contemporary works of high standard. At one of the old centres, Kutahya, the classic tile themes continue, reshaped on beautiful vases and wall plates. Perhaps Turkey's most famous and longstanding speciality is carpet making, first introduced by Seljuks from the East in the Middle Ages. By the 1500s, Turkish carpets were in great demand all over Western Europe. One richly coloured design is named the `Holbein Carpet', because it featured so often in the paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger (see `The Ambassadors' at the National Gallery, London). This carpet was then, as now, produced at Bergama known in ancient times as Pergamon. Today the major carpet centres are in central and western Turkey. Yahyali in the vicinity of Cappadocia and Hereke on the Sea of Marmara are two names to look out for. Hereke's weavers, for example, have been producing superb woolen and silk carpets since 1844. A KNOTTY POINT The city of Gordes was once Turkey's most important carpet centre, producing the highest quality prayer rugs for some 200 years, and giving its name to the Turkish carpet knot. This serves as a reminder of the fabled Gordion Knot tied by Gordios, King of the Phrygians. Alexander the Great, unable to unravel it with his hands, `untied' it with a single blow of his sword, so forecasting his conquest of Asia. IN THE STEPS OF ATATURK Wherever you go in Turkey, you'll find his presence. Statues in city centres or country villages, anything from a road or stadium to a dam or airport named after him...and portraits everywhere. This is the man who almost singlehanded brought modern Turkey into being from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Overleaf there's a resume of how this happened, but here there is only space to summarise the amazing programme of reforms this man of vision and vitality achieved. The abolition of the Sultanate followed the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Perhaps the most radical step was then takenthe total separation of religion from affairs of state, or `secularisation' of the state. The law of the Koran was replaced with a modern civil code based on the Swiss system. This code dramatically improved the place of women in Turkish society. Previously they could not take a job and they could be divorced at their husband's whim. Now they had complete equality and in 1934, before many European countries, received the right to vote and to be elected to Parliament. Ataturk also abolished the veil, the fez and the turban. With typical dynamism, he donned a Western hat and drove to one of the most traditional towns in Turkey... `This, gentlemen', he told the staring crowd, `is called a hat, and it is the headgear of civilized people'. Another farreaching cultural reform came in 1928 with the introduction of Latin script to replace Arabic, which was not so well suited to Turkish phonetics. When Ataturk asked his advisers how long his alphabet revolution would take the hesitant estimate was `7 years'. `We'll do it in 7 weeks', he replied and did. Other key reforms concerned the formation of state institutions, state enterprises, and a widespread education programme.' In life the only real guide is science', as Ataturk observed. This is suitably inscribed in Ankara at the Faculty of Languages, History and Geography, which he founded. If the hour of crisis in a nation's history produces the man to meet that crisis, then Mustafa Kemal was certainly destined for greatness in the making of modern Turkey. Compared to the unification of Italy, in which Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour played such leading parts, Mustafa Kemal appears to have combined all three roles man of action, man of ideas, and pragmatic farseeing statesman. Born in 1881 in Salonika, then part of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, he graduated as a captain from the Istanbul Staff College in 1905. As a colonel and divisional commander, he was brilliantly successful in repulsing the Allies in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 during the First World War. He then saw further distinguished service as a commander in the Caucasus and Mesopotamia campaigns. After the Armistice, when he came to Istanbul and saw the Allied warships in the Bosphorus, he is reputed to have said `As they have come, so will they go'. In 1919 during the Allied Occupation of Turkey after the War, Mustafa Kemal contrived to secure an appointment as a military inspector in eastern Turkey. He landed at Samsun, a port on the Black Sea, on May 19th 1919, still celebrated in Turkey as Youth and Sports Day, a national holiday commemorating the start of the fouryearlong struggle for independence. Soon he succeeded in rallying the nation at two historic congresses, the first at Erzurum, the second at Sivas. The War of Independence was now on, with Ankara as the new focal point of resistance. After fighting on several fronts, CommanderinChief Mustafa Kemal was eventually completely victorious in August 1922. The next year the Treaty of Lausanne, last in the series of international diplomatic settlements concluding the First World War, recognised Turkey as a sovereign and independent state. On October 13th, 1923, Ankara was officially named the new capital. Sixteen days later the new state was proclaimed a republic and the National Assembly democratically elected Mustafa Kemal as the Republic's first President. Nearly five centuries of Ottoman imperial rule were finally over. One of many westernising reforms Mustafa Kemal introduced was the use of surnames. The Assembly voted to give him the name Ataturk Father of the Turks in recognition of his services to the nation. Almost any one of the reforms accomplished over the period of his presidency would entitle Ataturk to a place in Turkish history. Taken as a whole, the achievement is astonishing. No wonder a recent biography has been called Tek AdamUnique Man. Even today, a oneminute silence is observed nationwide at 9.05am every November 10th in respectful remembrance of his death in 1938. As Lord Kinross wrote in his biography `What he left for the Turkey he had freed, were strong foundations and a clear objective for her future growth... He infused the people with a belief in the values of western democracy.' THE VOTE THAT MEANS A LITTLE BIT MORE SINCE THE 1920S TURKEY HAS EFFECTED A REMARKABLE TRANSITION FROM THE FEUDALSTYLE OTTOMAN EMPIRE TO A MODERN PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY BASED ON THE WESTERN EUROPEAN MODEL. Preconceptions can often prove to be misconceptions. People visiting Turkey who have formed fixed ideas beforehand of an entirely rural and basically undeveloped society have to adjust these ideas when they find a progressive industrial multiparty democracy with the full political apparatus of parliament, free elections, president and council of ministers responsible to parliament. The fact that in Turkey's last general election in 1987 no less than 91.82% of the electorate voted (compared with 75.3% in the UK's last general election in the same year) underlines the extent to which political awareness and participation have developed in the nation. Although elected by a particular province, a Turkish Member of Parliament does not represent his electorate in quite the same way as the British MP represents his constituency. He or she is also a representative of the whole nation, just as Edmund Burke claimed in his speech to the Electors of Bristol in 1774. Having just been declared duly elected, Burke produced a classic defence of an MP's right to follow his own initiatives. `Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.' `You choose a member, indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not a member of Bristol, but he is a Member of Parliament.' So when the Turkish elector in Erzurum or Izmir casts his or her vote every 5 years, it means just that little bit more. Of course party politics may make overriding demands, as they did in Burke's day. But in principle the system remains true to Ataturk's enlightened vision of a people's constitutional democracy in action. TIMETABLE OF PROGRESS April 23, 1920. Turkish Grand National Assembly inaugurated October 13, 1923. Ankara declared capital of new Turkish state October 29, 1923. Republic of Turkey proclaimed and Mustafa Kemal elected first President 1924. Monastic orders and brotherhoods abolished as part of process of secularisation 19251939. Turkey pursues a progressive regional peace policy via the Balkan Entente and the Saadabad Pact. (Greek prime minister Veniselos proposes Ataturk for the Nobel peace prize) 1934. Women received the vote 1939. Turkey enters a tripartite alliance with Britain and France 193945. Allied to Britain, Turkey suffers Nazi, later Soviet, pressures during the war, manages to stay nonbelligerent 1946. First multiparty election 1949. Turkey becomes Member of the Council of Europe 1952. Turkey's entry into NATO 1961. Planned economy starts. State Planning Organisation established. 1963. Turkey becomes an Associate Member of the European Community with the stipulated objective of full membership 1982. Revised constitution approved in national plebiscite 1983 and 1987. New general elections held. NATO'S EASTERN DRAWBRIDGE Some of Turkey's most spectacular scenery lies on her easternmost borders. Witness the ultrablue waters of Lake Van, six times the size of Lake Geneva. Witness the magnificent Mount Agri, almost 17,000 feet high, sentinel of the Caucasus mountains and legendary landing site of Noah's Ark. For centuries this region has resounded to the tramp of armies Hittites, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Selcuks, Mongols. Xenophon and his Ten Thousand marched this way so did Tamerlane, `Scourge of God'. In fact Turkey's particular geographic location has long determined her key strategic role, both from commercial and military viewpoints, and the 20th century is no exception. In February 1952, Turkey joined the NATO Alliance, thus confirming her European and Western alignment. With 380 miles of frontier bordering on the USSR, Turkey has proved herself a reliable strategic partner on Europe's eastern flank, maintaining the vital network of airbases and listening posts, as well as the second largest armed forces within NATO after the USA. Additionally, Turkey now manufactures F16 fighter jets under a joint venture agreement with the American company, General Dynamics. Other joint ventures cover the assembly and manufacture of helicopters, frigates, armoured combat vehicles, radar installations, mobile units and missile systems. It should be stressed that Turkey's basic stance on foreign policy continues to follow Kemal Ataturk's guiding maxim `Peace at home, peace in the world'. For instance, Turkey stayed strictly neutral during the IraqIran war and worked actively to end hostilities. Further evidence of this policy is provided by Turkey welcoming 37,000 northern Iraqi asylum seekers in the aftermath of the IranIraq war, and by the fact that, on the Bulgarian border, 313,000 Turks expelled from Bulgaria have been received. FURTHER READING General Turkey and the West, David Barchard Turkey, Daniel Farson Turkey: A Timeless Bridge, Peter Holmes The Emergence of Modern Turkey, B. Lewis Turkey 1988 and Turkey 1989, Directorate of Press & Information, Ankara Turkish for Travellers, Berlitz Portrait of a Turkish Family, Irfan Orga Mediterranean Cookery, Claudia Roden Historical/Archaeological Ancient Civilizations & Ruins of Turkey, Ekrem Akurgal The Lords of the Golden Horn, Noel Barber Turkey's Southern Shore, G. E. Bean Aegean Turkey: Archaeological Guide, G. E. Bean Beyond the Maeander, G. E. Bean Turkey: A Short History, R. H. Davison The Search for Alexander, R. Lane Fox The Histories, Herodotus The Ottoman Empire 13001600, Halil Inalcik Ataturk: The Rebirth of a Nation, Lord Kinross, Ancient Turkey, Seton Lloyd Turkey, Andrew Mango The Hittites, J. G. MacQueen Byzantium, John Julius Norwich History of the Byzantine State, G. Ostrogorsky History of the Crusades (3 vols), S. Runciman The Fall of Constantinople, S. Runciman In Search of the Trojan War, Michael Wood The Persian Expedition, Xenophon Art & Architecture Turkish Art and Architecture, Oktay Aslanapa A History of Ottoman Architecture, Godfrey Goodwin Early Christian & Byzantine Architecture, Richard Krautheimer The World of Ottoman Art, Michael Levey Byzantine Style & Civilization, Steven Runciman Sinan, A. Stratton Art of the Byzantine Era, David TalbotRice Travel The Wilder Shores of Love, Lesley Blanch A Traveller on Horseback, Christina Dodwell The Towers of Trebizond, Rose Macaulay The Jason Voyage, Tim Severin The Lycian Shore, Freya Stark Across the Hellespont, Richard Stoneman Strolling through Istanbul, H. SumnerBoyd & J. Freely NOTE ON VISAS The visa regime for British passports which will be in effect as of 1st November 1989 will be as follows: Visas for visits to be made for tourism purposes not exceeding a period of three months will be issued exclusively at ports of entry in Turkey. Therefore, British nationals do not need to apply to Turkish Diplomatic and Consular Missions either in the UK or third countries to obtain visas under this category of visits. The fee for such visas shall be 5 Pounds per person. In cases where several persons are travelling under a single passport, each individual will be required to pay the fee of 5 Pounds. For visits entailing stays in Turkey for more than three months and to be made for such purposes as employment, education and research, visas will continue to be issued as in the past at the Turkish Consulate General in London (Rutland Lodge, Rutland Gardens, SW7 1BW). Other Turkish consular missions in third countries, are not authorized to issue visas under these categories. British nationals needing to make multiple entries into Turkey will also be required, as in the past, to obtain multipleentry visas at Turkish consular missions against the payment of a fee. The fees to be paid for visas coming under this category are as follows: Travels to Turkey for the purpose of employment, education and research: 60 Pounds Multiple entries: 44 Pounds In keeping with international practice, British nationals who apply to the Turkish Embassy in London (43 Belgrave Square, SW1X 8PA), or other Turkish Embassies in third countries, with Notes Verbales from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or British Embassies and High Commissions abroad which attest that the individuals concerned have official functions, shall be issued visas free of charge, regardless of the purpose of their travel.