4. Turkey share border with eight
counties. Which make difficult to
analyses Culture of Turkey.
5. Turkey's land borders are quite wide so Turkey has lots of
neighbours. These are Greece and Bulgaria on the West,
Georgia on the North, Armenia and Iran on the East, Iraq and
Syria on the South.
6. TYPE OF CURRENCY
1,00 €= 2,107 Turkish lira (TL)
LANGUAGE
Turkish is the sole official language
throughout Turkey.
7. Basic Facts
Traditional covers are common in country side – Black
veil can be seen in cities but very few
Social norms change from region to region
15. DON’T’s
• Certain gestures, common in the western world, are considered
rude expressions in this culture.
Making an ‘O’ with your thumb and forefinger (as if to say “OK!”) is rude because
you are making the gesture for a hole - which has connotations referring to
homosexuality in the Turkish psyche.
• Turks are extremely proud and sensitive of their heritage and
culture.
• Turks in general have very strong nationalistic views, and would
view any criticisms of their country and expressions and attitudes
insulting the Turkish flag
• Don't mention the Armenian Genocide, Kurdish separatism and the
Cyprus problem
17. • The famous Trojan Wars took place in Western Turkey, around the
site where the Trojan horse rests today.
• The first church built by man (St. Peter’s Church) is in Antioch
(Antakya), Turkey.
• The oldest known human settlement is in Catalhoyuk, Turkey (7th
Millenium B.C.)
• St. Nicholas, also known as Santa Claus, was born in Patara and
became the bishop of Demre, on Turkey’s Mediterranean Coast.
• Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat (Agri Dagi) in Eastern Turkey.
• The last meal on Noah’s Ark, a pudding of sweet and sour taste
(asure), is still served throughout Turkey.
• Turks introduced coffee to Europe.
• Ephesus and Halicarnasus (the place for the two of the Seven
Wonders of the ancient world) are in Turkey.
18. The Temple of Artemis at
Epheseus
Located in: Turkey
Construction: 550 BC
Destruction: 262 AD
Interesting Facts:
• The temple was built in honor of
the Greek goddess of hunting
and wild nature
• When the Goths destroyed the
temple, the Ephesians vowed to
build a new one
• They did but it lost its
religiousness, so they destroyed
it
19. The Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus
Located in: Bodrum,Turkey
Construction: 750 BC
Interesting Facts:
• Maussollos ( king at the time)
built his own tomb
• His wife and sister suggested it
• They thought it was very royal
• When he died the put his tomb
in the Mausoleum
20. • Turks gave the Dutch their famous tulips.
• Istanbul is the only city in the world built on two continents.
• Istanbul is named by the European Union as the European Capital
of Culture in 2010.
• Tradition in Turkey says that a stranger at one’s doorstep is
considered "God’s guest" for at least three days.
• Turkey is noted for having one of the three most famous and
distinctive traditional cuisines in the world.
• The First Ecumenical Council was held in Iznik, Turkey.
• Writing was first used by people in ancient Anatolia. The first clay
tablets in the ruins of Assyrian Karum (Merchant Colony) date back
to 1950 B.C.
21. • The oldest tin mine was found in Göltepe, 60 miles south of Tarsus.
• The first Neolithic paintings found on man-made walls are in
Catalhöyük, Turkey.
• Anatolia is the birthplace of historic legends, such as Homer (the
poet), King Midas, Herodotus (the father of history), and St. Paul
the Apostle.
• Julius Caesar proclaimed his celebrated words, "Veni, Vidi, Vici (I
came, I saw, I conquered)" in Turkey when he defeated the Pontus,
a formidable kingdom in the Black Sea region of Turkey.
• Female goddesses like Cybele dominated the Central
Anatolian pantheon for thousands of years before these
supernatural powers were transformed to male gods.
• The Hittites sold Abraham the cave where he buried his wife Sarah,
when the Israelites came to Palestine.
22. • The first church dedicated to Virgin Mary is in Ephesus.
• Cherry was first introduced to Europe from Giresun (Northern
Turkey)
• Turkey has hundreds beaches and marinas which have the "Blue
Flag" (A European award for the best clean water) on the
Mediterranean and Aegean.
• The first recorded international treaty in the world was the Treaty of
Kadesh between the Hittite and Egyptian Empires, Hattusilis III and
Ramses II, in c.1275 BC.
• The oldest known shipwreck on Earth was found and excavated in
Uluburun near Kas, in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.
• In 640 BC, for the first time in history, coins made of electrum were
used by the Lydian king Croesus in Sardis, in Aegean region of
Turkey.
• King Midas lived in Gordion, capital of Phrigia.
• Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot near Ankara. The double
knotting technique used in Turkish rugs is also called as Gordian
Knot.
23. • The Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis was said to be watered by a
river which separated into four streams as it left the garden; two of them
the Tigris (Dicle) and Euphrates (Firat) rise from the mountains of Eastern
Turkey.
• Early Christians escaping from Roman persecutions found shelter in
Cappadocia.
• Istanbul has the historical building of Sirkeci Train Station. This was the last
stop of the Simplon-Orient Express - "kings of trains and train of kings" -
between Paris and Constantinople (Istanbul) from 1883 to 1977. Agatha
Christie was one of the passengers of this famous train.
• The number of species of flowers in Turkey is approximately 9,000, of
which 3,000 are endemic. In Europe for instance there are 11,500 species.
This shows the richness of flora and fauna in Anatolia.
24. • Turkey is a young country in more ways than one: over two-thir ds
of the Turkish population is under age thirty.
• Turkey is physically one of the highest countries in the world, the
average height is 6,000 feet.
• Turkey is one of the few agriculturally self-sufficient countries in the
world.
• More than two-thirds of Turkey's borders are coastline, these
stretch for fully 6,000 km (3,730 miles) along the Aegean, eastern
Mediterranean and Black Sea.
