Turkey: Its Not Like Egypt

Sorry I didn’t get a chance to post this while we were still in Turkey and then in Syria, blogspot is banned. Anyways, we spent a week in Turkey, most of it in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) and a couple days in the capital Ankara. It was such a stark contrast walking the streets of Istanbul to what we are familiar with in Cairo. They were clean, primarily free of hassling, there was green grass and flowers everywhere, and overall we felt like we’d been transported to Europe. It rained the first day (which we pretty much haven't seen the whole time we've been in the Middle East and it even snowed!) We heard from an amazing variety of speakers about the ruling party of Turkey, their secular state, the local elections that happened just days after our leaving, Obama's upcoming visit, and Christianity in the region. To go from knowing almost nothing about a country to having an idea about some of the big issues in only a week was amazing.

Rainy Day in Istanbul (notice the party flags):



Bosporous:



An interesting aspect of Turkey is the devotion and respect they give to Ataturk, father of the Turks who brought great reforms at the beginning of the 20th century and helped develop them into the secular powerhouse they now are. All over, we saw evidence of this with posters of him, and we learned about how there is a creed that Turkish children say everyday that extols the man and promises to follow his example. There are hosts of little sayings of his (accurate or not) that are used in businesses, like a Turkish airline that uses a slogan of something like “Ataturk says the future is in the sky.”

Anit Kaber (Ataturk's Tomb):




We got to see some beautiful sights: a cruise on the Bosporus, the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and a rundown castle on the Asian side of Istanbul (my first time to the continent!) What is so striking about religion in this region (and we’ve seen it many places) is the integration of religions that used to exist between Christianity and Islam. The Hagia Sophia is a church that was built around 500 A.D., and later converted to a mosque; so when you go inside there are the most beautiful iconic mosaics I’ve ever seen of Jesus on judgment day and a painting of Jesus and Virgin Mary above the minbar and mithrab which are essential parts of any mosque. Something interesting to ponder: the overlapping of specific beliefs within these religions and the periods in history when the antagonism that is common today was rare.


21st Birthday at the Hagia Sophia:



Mosaic of Jesus on Judgment Day at the Hagia Sophia:



Blue Mosque:



Krista and I at castle ruins:



Turkey was beautiful and amazing but too European for my tastes (no offense to anyone). We crossed into Syria on Wednesday or Thursday night (I can't remember) for a few days primarily in Damascus. Definitely some amazing things there!