Turks aren't what you think. You may have thoughts and images of women wearing hijabs, and frowny faced men leaning against 1000-year-old walls with leathery looks of disapproval on their mustached faces. I mean come on, it's a muslim country, right? Yes, but that's not what you find when you get down to the heritage, when you get down to the heart. It's something older. Something deeper.
Have Tea With Me
The first time I went to Turkey a lot of people told me I was making a mistake. I was wasting my time and money. "You should go to a more normal place like England, or Australia.". "Don't you realize that place is CRAWLING with ISIS?". This was right after the desolation in Syria began taking place. I however realized stories in the media are often pumped up and given more breath than they really deserve. However, I still really didn't know what to expect. You can't really know a place until you've experienced it.What I did experience is something that I think can best be described as warm.
Or rather, hot.
A hot glass of black tea. If you were to drop a pebble in the atmosphere above Turkey, chances are that it would land in a cup of tea. The stuff is everywhere. There are a few reasons for this I think. Firstly, I'm pretty sure after hundreds of years of drinking it, the Turks have become genetically addicted to it. Secondly, it's very good. And lastly, Turks enjoy passing the time with one another over tea.
It is their universal symbol of hospitality. It doesn't matter if they know you or not, after talking with someone for five minutes they'll probably ask you if you would like to have tea. This is especially true in rural Turkey. In fact I eventually learned that if I wanted them to stop offering me more tea, I needed to not finish the glass I was on. Otherwise, "5 glasses later" comes pretty quick.
The biggest reason for this is because while you're enjoying your tea, you're also having a great conversation. Talking about your family, their family, the country, and God. Turkish people are all-to eager to sit down with you, or invite you into their homes to get to know you, and to make sure you feel welcome.
Identity Crisis
I made a friend in Turkey who told me his thoughts on where the Turkish hospitality came from:"If you go and ask a random person on the street about this, they'll probably tell you it's because the Koran commands people to show kindness to the traveler." He then countered the idea, "But I don't think this is true for Turkey. Turkish hospitality is actually counter to what the Koran teaches. You see through out our history the Ottomans took beautiful things, wonders, and talents and then labeled them as a product of Islam." . " For instance you can see an obvious example of this in Istanbul. The Ottomans took the Hagia Sophia, which was originally a Orthodox Cathedral known for it's beauty across the world. And what did they do? They put minarets all around it and called it a mosque." . "They then transformed other churches into mosques and started building their own mosques, like the Blue Mosque, and used them as a symbol of Islam." . " It's a lie. The beautiful Style of the grand mosques around the city are all based on the original designs of the Hagia Sophia.". " The same is true with our hospitality you see. I think it really comes from our origins before the Ottomans. When the Turks were influenced by the principles of the Christian Gospel, and the family-oriented dynamics of ancient tribal Turks."
This was something I had never thought about before. But it really helped connect the dots for me. Of course I noticed people praying in the streets during the call to prayer, and I heard the Imams calling at 5:30 in the morning. But most Turks I came in contact with seemed to only hold a surface level faith. Similar to the way a lot of people who profess to be Christians in America are like today. They claim to have faith, but don't really take it to heart.
It became apparent to me that Turkish people were far from what I had expected. They were a people living under confliction, muslims on the surface, but turkish at heart. In addition to what my friend said above, some of this could also be attributed to Ataturk (You can read more about him here, because I am hardly the expert to speak on him with authority.).
Thoughts From The Desktop
I've learned a lot about Turkey in the past few years. About the people, the mountains, THE FOOD.... but if I've learned anything about Turkey, it's this: Turkey is not the Middle-East, it's not Europe, it's something different. It always will be. A very proud, yet self-contrarian nation. One that is overflowing with culture, but starving for truth.Thanks for hanging out! Don't worry, I'll have fun blogs about Turkish food soon. :D
You can also checkout some of my videos about Turkey here:
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