Middle East - Anthony Ham [453]
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HOW MUCH?
Cup of tea in a carpet shop free
Bus fare from İstanbul to Ankara TL35
Airfare from İstanbul to Van TL100
Smoking a nargileh TL5
Entry to ancient sites TL3 to TL10
LONELY PLANET INDEX
Litre of petrol TL3.50
1.5L of bottled water TL2.50
Bottle of Efes beer TL5
Souvenir T-shirt TL10
Simit (ring of bread) TL0.50
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THE CULTURE
As a result of Atatürk’s reforms, republican Turkey has largely adapted to a modern Western lifestyle, but the Turks’ mentality reflects their country’s position at the meeting of Europe and Asia. The constant sway between two cultures can be disconcerting. In İstanbul, İzmir, Antalya and coastal resorts, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in Europe; you will not need to adapt much in order to fit in. In smaller towns and villages, however, you may find people warier and more conservative.
The Turks have an acute sense of pride and honour. They are fiercely proud of their history and heroes, especially Atatürk, whose portrait and statues are ubiquitous. The extended family still plays a key role and formality and politeness are important.
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SPORT
Football (soccer) is a national obsession and barely a day goes by without a match on TV. To soak up the atmosphere of the real thing, try to get a ticket for one of the İstanbul biggies: Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe or Beşiktaş.
More-unusual sporting highlights include the main camel-wrestling bout, which takes place near Selçuk on the third Sunday in January, and oil wrestling, which kicks off near Edirne in late June/early July.
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RELIGION
Turkey is 98% Muslim, overwhelmingly Sunni, with Shiites and Alevis mainly in the east. The religious practices of Sunnis and Alevis differ markedly.
The country espouses a more relaxed version of Islam than many Middle Eastern nations. Many men drink alcohol, but almost no one touches pork, and many women still wear headscarves.
The small Jewish community includes some 25,000 Jews in İstanbul. There’s also a small and declining community of Nestorian and Assyrian Orthodox Christians in the southeast.
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ARTS
Carpets
Turkey is famous for its beautiful carpets and kilims (woven rugs). It’s thought that the Seljuks introduced hand-woven carpet-making techniques to Anatolia in the 12th century. Traditionally, village women wove carpets for their family’s use, or for their dowry; today, the dictates of the market rule, but carpets still incorporate traditional symbols and patterns. The Ministry of Culture has sponsored projects to revive age-old weaving and dyeing methods in western Turkey; some shops stock these ‘project carpets’.
Literature
The most famous Turkish novelists are Yaşar Kemal, nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature on numerous occasions, and Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize Laureate in 2006. Kemal’s novels, which include The Wind from the Plains, Salman the Solitary and Memed, My Hawk, chronicle the desperate lives of villagers battling land-grabbing lords.
An inventive prose stylist, Pamuk’s books include the Kars-set Snow, and the existential İstanbul whodunit Black Book, told through a series of newspaper columns. Other well-known writers include Elif Şafak (Flea Palace), Latife Tekin (Dear Shameless Death) and Buket Uzuner (Long White Cloud, Gallipoli).
Cinema
Several Turkish directors have won worldwide recognition, most notably the late Yılmaz Güney, director of Yol (The Road), Duvar (The Wall) and Sürü (The Herd). The Cannes favourite Nuri Bilge Ceylan probes the lives of village migrants in the big city in Uzak (Distant), and looks at male-female relationships in İklimler (Climates).
Ferzan Özpetek’s Hamam (Turkish Bath) addresses the previously hidden issue of homosexuality in Turkish society. The new name to watch is Fatih Akin, who ponders the Turkish experience in Germany in Duvara Karsi (Head On) and Edge of Heaven.
Music