Current Events

CURRENT EVENTS 

There are a few events that have happened in Turkey which any visitor should be away of. Knowing these events adds to you traveling as a political act, and expands your understanding of what this country is going through.

Kurdistan is a geo-cultural region which the Kurdish people form a major population of. This region extends from Turkey and Syria, into Iraq and Iran. Many of these Kurdish people wish to have their independent nation state, but have failed to do so. The Turkish government and these Kurds have fought each other in the Turkey-PKK conflict. The PKK is considered, by Turkey, the United States, the European Union, and NATO, as a terrorist organization and have carried out many attacks in Turkey. The PKK wishes to also form a independent nation state within Turkeys borders. Because of this, they have battled against Turkey to separate in a bloody war which has claimed more than 30,000 lives. In 2013, the PKK leader called for a ceasefire which continues today.

Recently, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIL, has controlled sections of the Kurdish region. One of these places coming near ISIL control is Kobane. Kobane is a small Kirdish city in Syria thats directly on the southern border of Turkey. Defending the city is a small group a Kurdish fighters who want to defend this city and push the invaders out. The IS currently controls about half of the city and are advancing. Turkey has not allowed for and Kurds to cross the border to support the fighters defending the city until October 29, the Turkish government allowed a group a 150 Kurdish fighters, armed with heavy weaponry, to cross the border into Kobane and help boost its defenses.

Turkey, other than support for air strikes, has not been involved in the issues south of its own border. Because ISIL has advanced so close to Turkeys border and no action has been made by the Turkish government to stop it, many clashes have been happening all over the country for support of action against ISIL. 

Personal

PERSONAL

During my visit to Istanbul in the winter of 2012, I enjoyed everything that the country had to offer. Even though the official language was Turkish, we found that many of the people there spoke English, which was very useful.  The general behavior to us as tourists from the UK and America was generally friendly but we did have a few confrontations where the behavior towards our nationality was not friendly but instead aggressive.

During our stay, we visited many historical monuments and places that gave us a understanding of what Turkey historically was. Great places to visit for this experience are the Hagia Sophia, the Bosporus, and the many mosques that are laid throughout the cities. A place that I had a great time seeing was the Hagia Sophia with its massive dome structure. 

Another great expirence that I had was the food. The food in Turkey consists mainly of vegetables, meats, and fish. Salads are very common, as well are meat kebabs of lamb or beef.  A other meal that is frequently eaten is fish, especially for costal cities that lay on the Aegean Sea, Bosporus, or the Black Sea. We mainly ate at the smaller family owned restaurants that were in the city and the smell of cooking kebabs and food was thick inside.

Turkeys cities are very busy and have lots of traffic. The streets are almost always filled with loud, speeding cars who have to get somewhere. I do not recommend driving yourself in Turkey, mainly because the streets are crazy and require lots of skill. 

Intro

INTRO

Traveling to Turkey costs around 1721 US dollar from Seattle to Istanbul

To travel to Turkey as a political act would mean that during your visit, you not only shared your own culture and experiences, but you also embrace the ones that the country you are visiting has to offer. You gain knowledge and an understanding of a places culture, history, and religion. You try new foods or drinks that you before may not have thought to try. You meet new people and have them show you their customs so that you will have a greater knowledge than when you first came.

Turkey shows the Lexus and the Olive Tree very well because in some parts of Turkey it is very modern and it has many up to date complexes. The Turkish people also have a large understanding of the world outside their own country and have traveled to places that are not within Turkey. This shows that the Turkish people have wanted a modernize environment and to strive for success by work. But they also stay connected to the Olive Tree because many of the businesses are all family owned and operated. Many of the Turkish people like where they live and do not want to leave, for their own connection to family.

Turkey has a population of around 81,600,000 who speak mainly the official Turkish language and the Kurdish language. 99.8% of the Religion in Turkey is Muslim who are mostly Sunni  and the other 0.2% are mostly Christians and Jews.

The weather in Turkey is a mainly temperate; hot and dry summers with a more mild and wet winters. The weather conditions are harsher in the interior.

Geography

GEOGRAPHY

Turkey has not only a very beautiful and large geography, but it is also very important to itself and many other countries around it.

Turkey sits between southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia, with that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe. Turkey also borders the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and borders the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria.

Turkey contains the only water connection between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, called the Bosporus. The Bosporus is where the Black Sea, which sits next to countries including Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey itself, connects to the Aegean Sea, and then the Mediterranean Sea. The Bosporus is one of the most geologically important areas within some distance of Turkey. Its importance of being a shipping lane has been of great help to those countries that border the Black Sea.

Background

Turkey Travel Blog

Turkey, a land full of many cultures, historical grounds, religion, great food, and many great people. Turkey is a country that welcomes visitors and is a great place to visit. I myself have traveled there and it was one of the best, exciting, and most remembering experiences of my life over the duration of my visit. I am going to show you the many different and great reasons to visit this fabulous country.

In 1928, the modern Turkey was founded out of the Anatolian remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire. Early Turkey began experimenting with multi party politics which led to the 1950 election victory of the opposition democratic party and a peaceful transfer of power.

But democracy has been disrupted by periods of instability and intermittent military coups, which in each case eventually resulted in a return of political power to civilians. A separatist insurgency begun in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and has dominated the Turkeys military's attention. This issue between the PKK and Turkeys military has claimed more than 30,000 lives. After the capture of the group's leader in 1999, the insurgents largely withdrew from Turkey mainly to northern Iraq. In 2013, KGK and the Turkish Government agreed to a ceasefire that continues despite slow progress in ongoing peace talks.

Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. In 1964, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community. Over the past decade, it has undertaken many reforms to strengthen its democracy and economy; it began accession membership talks with the European Union in 2005.