After a little taste of space exploration (aka Cappadocia), the next stop was time travel. The direction: South-East.
We headed towards the gateway of ancient Mesopotamia, along part of the historic trade route of the Silk Road. The world slowly began to metamorphose. The architecture once grey now sand, with only mosques towering over the horizon. The road there was littered with agricultural fields: wheat, corn, cotton. A modern-day testament to the historical fertile crescent, a fertile plateau in an otherwise arid environment. The sun burns hotter. The air arid. The multiple calls to prayer of the minarets sing louder here. This region of Turkey is less influenced by European culture. You are stepping into the Middle East.
Women are more conservatively dressed. They no longer walk side-by-side with their husbands, rather a few feet behind. Physical contact between genders is non existent with a forcefield seemingly keeping the two genders apart. We sat at a local cafe for a traditional turkish breakfast of menemen and bread. After our meal, Julien leans in closely and puts his arm around my shoulders. We are abrasively asked to leave. Our behaviour had offended the shopkeeper. His expression is full of distain, as if he had just watched pornography. It is definitely a culture we are not yet accustomed to.
If it wasn’t for the sound of fighter jets, and the widespread availability of modern technology, the culture and architecture may have tricked you into a degree of time travel. The fighter jets? We had been cut off from the news for a few weeks, but we could sense the tension in the air.
Since the border was drawn after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in WWI, there has been much conflict between the Kurds and Turks in this region. The Kurds are an ethnic group who have resided on lands which cover modern day Iraq, Syria & Turkey. Unfortunately, the English and French failed to recognised them and they were never offered their own land. So for decades, they have been squatting over 3 countries, sometimes separated from their own family by an imaginary line. Despite their disagreements, there had been some recent peace between the Kurds and the Turks with the signature of a peace treaty. But when their fellow Kurds began to fall in Syria, with the impending threat of the Islamic State, this inevitably placed tension on the fragile relationship between the two ethnicities.
We no longer met tourists, only journalists. They had travelled far and wide to catch what was unfolding in Kobane. We rested in Sanliurfa. There had been great tension further East in Turkey. Turks, Kurds and Islamic State sympathisers have had extremely violent clashes. Several roads had been closed. Turkish Armed Forces mobilised to impose a curfew.
The National: Army imposes curfew after 18 killed in Turkey
Meanwhile, air strikes were going on 70 kilometres from where we were.
Despite the tension, we rested in Sanliurfa. Life was normal there as ever.
Sanliurfa is the proclaimed birthplace of Abraham (or Ibrahim in Islam). Abraham is an important figure for Muslims, due to his example of unrelenting faith. The second most important celebration (Eid) is dedicated to the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son. In Sanliurfa, the legendary Pool of Sacred Fish (Turkish = Balikli Gol) tells the story of Abraham thrown into the fire by Nimrod. In this story (according to Islam), God (or Allah in Islam) turns the flames into water and the burning logs into fish. These fish are sacred, so no fishing or swimming with them. However, you can pay a small price for fish food and watch in excitement a feeding frenzy. Locals believe that if you see a white carp (in amongst the sea of black), you will be blessed in life. We didn’t.
Just next door to Balikli Gol is the Ayn-i Zeliha Lake. She is the daughter of Nimrod, and the story goes (well there are two versions to this story): 1. the lake are her tears for Abraham after he was thrown into the fire, or 2. she jumped into the flames with Abraham and God turned her into water. Like with many attractions in this region, the stories that follow are more impressive than the physical attraction itself.
Sanliurfa is also the closest port of call to Gobekli Tepe, thought to be one of the oldest temples in the world. If you have never heard of Gobekli Tepe. I suggest you do your own research. This theory throws into disarray the current view on the evolution of human civilisation. I will leave this at that before we enter all sorts of conspiracy theory debates.
Sanliurfa is also a port of call to the beehive houses of Harran. Various religious prophets have been noted to past through Harran. The design of these mud houses are inspired by old nomadic tents. However the uncanny resemblance to breasts and the phallic nature of the minarets makes me think, perhaps Turkey has a little Freudian tendencies hiding in its midst.
