Turkey Wonders

Wonder

Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)

URL:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Blue_Mosque_Courtyard_Dusk_Wikimedia_Commons.jpg/800px-Blue_Mosque_Courtyard_Dusk_Wikimedia_Commons.jpg

Blue Mosque also named as Sultanahmet Camii. It is the best structures of Mehmet Aga, who is the student of Sinan, the most famous classic architect of the Islam World. Also, Blue Mosque is one of the most important landmarks of Istanbul. Blue Mosque is started building in 1609, which located on the central of the old city of Istanbul. The name of the Mosque is came from the wall and floor of it, since or these materials are only using two clour, blue and white. Blue Mosque belongs to Arab style architecture. Around the Mosque there are six slight tower, which are the symbol of six faiths of Islam. In addition, Blue Mosque is one of the world's top ten wonders.




Hagia Sophia

URL: 
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Hagia_Sophia_Mars_2013.jpg/800px-Hagia_Sophia_Mars_2013.jpg
http://cdn.gohistoric.com/img/21/64/80/gohistoric_21648_z.jpg

Hagia Sophia has about 1500 years of its history. It is very famous of its huge round roof, and it is a symbol of Byzantine style architecture. Haiga Sophia, which in Latin is called Sancta Sophia, means the wisdom of the god. Hagia Sophia's location used to have two other churches, but both of them were destroyed by rebel and violence. In 532, the emperor of the Byzantine Empire asked to build the third chuch, which was Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia is near and even next to Blue Mosque. Nowadays, it is a museum both belongs to the believer of Christianity and Muhammad.


Galata Tower

URL:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Galata_tower_2005.jpg/450px-Galata_tower_2005.jpg

Galata Tower, which in Turkish is called Galata Kulesi, is a middle century stone tower. It is located on Galata district of Istanbul. Galata Tower has nine floor, high 66.9 meters. When it was building, it was the highest structure of the city. On the top floor of the tower there are a restaurant and a cafe, which are the best place to view the whole Istanbul. Galata Tower was start building in 1348. Since it is a tower, it's also used to be a military place, such as a place to observe far places.



Architect

Mimar Kemaleddin Bey

Ahment Kemaleddin Bey, who is widely known as Mimar Kemalddin, was born in 1870 in Turkey. He was a famous architect of late Ottoman style architecture. He designed and build some early years structures of the newly established Republic. In 1908, Kemalddin was appinted as a director of the Construction and Restoration Department at the Ministry of Foundations. After that, he did a successful work of designing four railway stations of the Oriental Railway Company, which gave him a chance to design many other stations of the country. In July 13th, 1927, Kemalddin was died because a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 57. His son IIhan Mimaroglu finanlly became a well-known composer. And Kemalddin himself is now sleeping forever at the cemetery of the Bayyzid II Mosque in Istanbul.
Source:
http://www.microarch.org/micro35/Turkey/DATA/WONDERS.HTM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/haso/hd_haso.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galata_Tower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimar_Kemaleddin#1870-1891

Private and Public Culture Dynamics of Turkey

Private and public culture dynamics could be found in every countries. Where the division of this shows apparently is between cities and villages. Even a city and a village are in a same country, they still could be very different.

First of all, the architecture shows a very different way.

City:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Ankara_and_mosque_wza.jpg
Village:http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/40855744.jpg

The two picture shows the architecture of the city Ankara and the village Panoramio.There is not a extreme difference between them, but we could see that a city has tall buildings and those buildings are next to each other which let the city seem very crowd. On the other hand, the buildings in a village are all two or three floors, and they are separate, we could see a lot of trees stay together with those houses. Use one sentence to say, the difference between a city and village in Turkey is the difference between modern and traditional.

A good example is the two videos of the course which talking about the bread making in Turkey. One video shows two women making bread in a house. This is a show of private and traditional culture, since they don't have a modern baking machine, what they have is a big iron bottle under their legs and they put stuffs into that bottle to bake the bread. In their way, the step of making bread is simple and maybe not safe to eat. But village people are fine with that since they this is how they bake the bread.
On the other hand, in another video, the bakery of a city have a official baking machine. In addition, they have a clean steps like there is a employee who deal with flour and another employee deal with cooking. Of course, since they have a big baking machine, the bakery could make a lot of breads in order to satisfy the number of customers.
This is one example. The important thing is in the public places like cities, there are many modern technologies and other benefits than villages. Such as building, a city has many tall buildings but a village only has small ones. This is because a city is more public than a village, thus the government put more money on develop the city and therefore somehow ignore the village side.

In China, we have some situations. Cities like Shanghai are far more modern than some other small cities. When I was in Tucson, which is kind a small city if we compare it with New York, I live in a three floors dorm for a year. However, now I am backing in my country and I live on 9th floor. In addition, the every floors I think for shanghai could be at least 7 to 10 floors just for living apartment. The government always tries to develop the city further because it is public. It is a symbol of the country to foreigners. This is not a bad thing, but maybe we should put our eyes on small cities too.

Gender and family dynamics of Turkey

To talk about gender situation of Turkey, A good example I think will the women's situation. Specifically, the equal of men and women.

In modern society of Turkey, women basically get ride of the situation of unfair treatment. In 2002, a criminal law was established, which deal with the female sexuality as a matter of individual rights rather than as matter of family honor.In addition, programs were created to improve the education to women.

Women are not required to cover their hair in Turkey nowadays. In fact, more and more women choose not to cover their hair.As an example,from 1999 to 2006, women not wearing head coverings in the 25-39 age group rose from 28% to 41.5%, and in the 18-24 group increased from 40.5% to 50.7%. Also, most of hair-covered women are live in strongly religion cities such as Istanbul. There is about 30% women in Istanbul cover their hair, but it is barely to see such a dress style in the central and eastern Turkey. Anyway, Turkey is very open as an Islam country. It is fine for women in Turkey not to be too traditional. In addition, men are not required to wear hijab or some other clothes too. And men in Turkey are glad to marry with a woman who doesn't cover herself too.

The murders of women in Turkey increased from 66 in 2002 to 953 in the first seven months of 2009. Although legally women are equal to men, but culturally it is not. Women in Turkey still face with demonic violence and other crimes. However, most of women choose to keep quiet. There are only about 8% women approach government institutions for support. 

On the other hand, honor killing is not rare in Turkey, especially in the city like Istanbul. A June 2008 report by the Turkish Prime Ministry's Human Rights Directorate said that in Istanbul alone there was one honor killing every week, and reported over 1,000 during the previous five years. As an example, in 2009, a 2-day-old child was killed for honor. The result is that almost all people who relate to the child was arrested, include his parents, grandmother and the doctor. The mother said that it was the family decided to kill the child.

Well, it is hard to think such things happen in modern China. Chinese are a combination of modern and traditional. There are traditional things like arranged marriage or no sex before wedding, but not all Chinese do this. In China, some parents may forbid their child to do something. For example, they may forbid their child to make a boyfriend or girlfriend because they think it is too young to a child, though their child is already 18 years old. However, no one will kill his or he own child. Normally, it definitely won't happen.
In the part of the equal of men an women, I think China does it pretty good. China used to be unfair to women hundred years ago; but after years of development, modern thinking is accepted. There are laws to protect women's right and women will use those laws to protect themselves. Furthermore, in same extreme cases such as family relationship, a woman may has a upper status than men. For an example, a wife may have the speak of how to deal with the money of the family. This cause an interesting thing that a husband will try his best to hide his money from his wife, or he has to ask his wife to get the permission to use money. Well, not all families in China is like this.


Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Turkey#Crime_against_women
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Turkey#Honour_killing

Religion in Turkey

Islam is the largest religion in Turkey, with about 96.4% citizens are muslin.

Also, there are other religions in Turkey. Besides Islam, Christianity and Judaism are the two most largest religion in Turkey. Turkey has numerous important sites for Judaism and Christianity, being one of the birth places of the latter.

In fact, Turkey is officially a secular country with no official religion. However, Islam covers almost all people in the country. This because even though the politics say Turkey is secular, currently all public schools from elementary to high school hold mandatory religion classes which only focus on the Sunni sect of Islam. In these classes, students are required to learn prayers and other religious practices about Islam. Thus, although Turkey is officially a secular state, the teaching of religious practices in public grade schools has been controversial; because the system makes the country looks like an Islam country rather than an secular one.

On the other hand, Turkey's government does do something to maintain its free religion. As an example, Jew's situation in Turkey is better than in other Islam countries. In Turkey, Jews operate their own schools, hospitals, welfare institutions and other stuffs.Though Turkey has attacking to Jews, such as the attacks by extremists on synagogues in 2003, the government still tries to give them rights and protection. 

The protection is not only given to Jews. Roman Catholics have also occasionally been subjected to violent societal attacks.For instance, an Italian Catholic priest was shot to death in this church in Trabzon by a 16 years old boy. Turkey's government punished him strongly and sent him to prison for 19 years.

So as a secular country with over 90% people are muslin, I think Turkey at least try to protect its citizens and their freedom of faith. However, the conflict of religions in the Middle East has lasted for a really long time. It won't gone as soon as we ask it to disappear, but still the government is trying to deal with it. Nevertheless, its a good start to bring a stable lives to the citizen.

Turkish hospitality

     Before I do this blog, I barely think Middle East people are hospitable; but actually their hospitality has surprised me even after I do the research.
     Turkish hospitality is a way of life.One example is that when the writer said "Stop" to his Turkish friend,the friend answered "Stop what". Therefore, unlike many other countries, Turkish consider hospitality is a morally right thing. It is something that they should do. It is something that they ought to do in their everyday lives. Turkish are hospitable is not because they are the host so that they should be gentle to others.It is just a way of their lives.
     In addition, Turkish hospitality is different than where else. The writer gives an example that when he friends visit him in NY, he may just say "make yourself comfortable" and let his guests do something by their own. However, in Turkey, the host will make sure everything is perfect for their guest from the beginning to the end. And this doesn't means that the host should prepare good food and drinks, or prepare a lot of events and entertainments. The hosts will try to satisfy any individual needs of his or her guests and try to make sure they have a perfect vacation when they are here.

Source:http://www.todayszaman.com/news-264939-turkish-hospitality.html
（Mainly paraphrased and some own analysis)

Turkey's food

Doner Kebab

Doner kebab is a common food not only in Turkey but also in the Middle East, Europe and Australia. It is a Turkish dish made of meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, normally lamb but also a mixture of veal or beef with these, or sometimes chicken. The dish is also widely known by its Arabic name "shawarma" or the Greek name "gyros".The sliced meat of a Doner kebab may be served wrapped in a flat bread such as lavash, pite or as sandwich instead of being served on a plate. Seasoned meat in the shape of an inverted cone is turned slowly against a vertical rotisserie, then sliced vertically into thin, crisp shavings. On the sandwich version, the meat is generally served with tomato, onion with sumac, pickled cucumber and chili.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner_kebab

Image address: http://www.seriouseats.com/images/20110214_D%C3%B6ner_Kebab.jpg

Izgara Kofte

image address:
http://file2.mafengwo.net/M00/34/0A/wKgBm02qwmSFtKV8AASOZip06bU49.groupinfo.w600.jpeg

     Kofte is kind of a roast meat. It looks like a normal roast meat which is exactly like the meat in a hamburger. However, it is wrong. The kofte just cooked smells very well. It hard to describe but you know； but you know if a food smells so good，it makes people really want to have a try. Another feather of kofte is spice. There are a lot of different spices in the market of Turkey and Turkish are more willing to get many of them. Since a good spice could let the food more tasty. Using a game word, it is kind like a "level up". A spice could let the meat literally different.

Pizza (Pide)

image address:
http://file2.mafengwo.net/M00/34/0A/wKgBm02qwk2_W7xdAARvgB1-4YM40.groupinfo.w600.jpeg

     I used to think that Italy is the biggest pizza country in the world, but Turkey is also a pizza country; and Turkish are somehow more creative.Their pizza is not only in circle. They still have rectangle, ellipse and other shapes. One apparent difference between Turkish pizza and American pizza is that Turkish pizza is very thin. And since the pizza is rectangle, people may feel that they should wrap the pizza then eat it.  Also,when we cook an American pizza, we may just put all filings evenly on the top of the pizza then bake it. But some Turkish pizza's fillings are inside of the pizza, which makes the pizza's structure are closer to a wrap or a sandwich. So, it looks like a clean baked cheese when a waitress bring the pizza to you; but after she cut it, you will see all tasty stuffs there.

Doner Kebab Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 - lb. leg of lamb, boned and cut in slices
• 1 Tbls. black pepper
• 2 lbs . ground lamb
• lamb fat(if u want)
• 2-3 Tbls. salt onions, processed until a liquid-3 cups
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 cup milk ..
• 1 tomato
• 1 tbspoon ground red pepper
• 2 tbspoon butter
• 1 tbspoon cumin
• 1tbspoon thyme
• 
  
• How to make it
• Remove any bits of skin and bone from the meat. Cut into serving-size
• slices, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Pound with a meat tenderizer or
• the edge of a heavy saucepan until 1/8 cm. thick. Trim.
• Prepare a marinade of onion juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, milk and soak
• meat in the marinade overnight.
• add to salt and pepper ground beef with spicy sauce
• Knead and give it a round shape then place in the in the middel of the tenderloin one by one . cover up plastic wrap and put in freezer over night .. The next day remove them from the fridge 45 minutes before cutting.. use a knife or meat cutter to shred it..
• then fry in a teflon pan (careful nt to over-fry) on both sides(3-4 minutes)(İf u dont have döner kebab broiler do it in a pan)
• Serve inside a bread corner or on a pita or on the pilaf and tomato slices if u like u can add lettuce and onion slices ,french fries too.

Source:http://www.grouprecipes.com/97811/home-made-doner-kebab.html

Stereotypes about Turkey

Turkish people are uneducated.

          This is wrong. In Turkey, school education is compulsory for 6-18 year olds. Also there are over 100 well-known universities in Turkey. For example, Bosphorus University in Turkey is one of the most famous university in Turkey. In addition, it has a program with Chinese universities.One reason that may cause this stereotype I think could be the holiday resorts. To be specific, a work in a holiday resort may not require that much academic knowledge or working experience. So, some low educated people from small villages come to holiday resorts to find a job. And traveler from other countries mainly go to those resorts to spend their times, so that they may meet more low educated people than high educated people who live in Turkey.

Men are dominant, women are submissive and stay at home.

     One reason may cause this point of view I think is because Turkey is still a religious country. Though technically women and men have equal rights in remote, religious and traditional villages, it is still normal to see men go outside, work and try their best to economically improve the living level of the family and women stay at home do some housework. However, men be breadwinners don't mean that they are really on the top and dominant women. Some similar situations are also found in UK and China. Furthermore, nowadays with more and more women having university education and being welcomed into professional jobs, men and women are more equally to be seen in the society. It is not rare to see women workers in many field of jobs. So, this stereotype may be caused by the extremely divided of traditional villages and modern cities or towns.


The water is dirty.

          Actually, in most areas of  Turkey, the water is perfectly safe to drink, especially those where the water is freshly sourced from melting snow on the mountains, springs, etc. It is true that some cities have old plumbing pipes pollute the water. So, even though that generally the whole water is clean, some people may still upset for the water. Another reason I think could cause this stereotype is the Black Sea. Turkey has a large parts of its territories link to the Black Sea, and black always remind people about pollution. It's true that many years ago, countries link with the Black Sea polluted it a lot; but nowadays the Black Sea is much more cleaner. In addition, the main reason cause the Black Sea to be black is not the pollution but is because water has two layers in the Black Sea and they rarely switch the place. So, the deeper water will seem more darker in the Black Sea than other seas, which makes the sea looks black.


Source: http://livingtheturkishdream.com/2013/08/28/stereotypesaboutturkey/
(Paraphrasing and own words)

Geography of Turkey

Image Address: http://www.mapsofworld.com/turkey/maps/turkey-map.gif
Souce: Google image

Image address: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Turkey_regions.png/1280px-Turkey_regions.png
Source: Wikipidea

Region:
     Turkey's terrain is very complex. Normally, it is separated to seven regions to analysis. They are Marmara Region, Aegean Region, Black Sea Region, Central Anatolia Region, Mediterranean Region, Eastern Anatolia Region and Southeastern Anatolia Region. This is because Turkey is link to four oceans and it has mountains in the land. So different regions have different climates and landscape, which means they have different geological features.
     Marmara Region receive many rainfalls in a year. The region is named by the sea of Marmara, which just beside the region. Therefore, the region covered two important places, Dardannelles Strait and Bosporus Strait. These two are the links of Black Sea with Aegean Sea and Mediterranean Sea, which are strategically and economically important places of Turkey.

Climate:
     Turkey's diverse regions have different climates, with the weather system on the coasts contrasting with that prevailing in the interior. Generally, rainfall is less to the east.  The eastern part is the highest precipitation in the country. Winters on the plateau are especially severe and summers are hot and dry. Spring and autumn are generally mild, but during both seasons sudden hot and cold spells frequently occur.

Source link：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Turkey （quotes has been edited)
Source: Wikipediea

     The climate between the east and west is opposite. There are more mountain's in the east and those mountains are covered by snow for many month in a year, which cause a cold weather in the east. And because eastern part of Turkey is inside, it is very dry.  In the west regions, most of them are along seas. So, the west part is more wet and belongs to Mediterranean climate. It is hot and dry in the summer but it has more rainfalls in the winter than other regions.

Sea:
     In the south of Turkey is Mediterranean Sea, in the west of Turkey is Aegean Sea and Marmara Sea, and in the north of Turkey is Black Sea. In addition, Bosporus Strait which is the only link of Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea is located in the territory of Turkey.
     Black Sea used to be a part of Mediterranean Sea in thousands of years ago. The only way to link Black Sea and outside world are Dardannelles Strait, Marmara Strait and Bosporus strait. Black Sea is a double layer sea, which means its water is separated. The water comes from river and Mediterranean Sea has less salt than the water in Black Sea. This causes the water from river and Mediterranean Sea above the water from Black Sea. And these two water barely switch place as other seas.