Row: 356
Aspect: Cultural
Name of Site: Historic Sites of Istanbul
Date of Inclusion in World Heritage List: 12.6.1985
Row : 357
Aspect: Natural / Cultural
Name of Site: The National Park of Göreme and Cappadocia
Date of Inclusion in World Heritage List: 12.6.1985
Row : 358
Aspect: Cultural
Name of Site: Divriqi Great Mosque and Hospital Complex
Date of Inclusion in World Heritage List: 12.6.1985
Row : 377
Aspect: Cultural
Name of Site: Hattuşaş (...)full story

Turkish cuisine is seen as of the three richest and oldest cooking traditions of the world together with French and Chinese cooking.
While it has come to be associated with kebap, baklava, lokum and rakı there is a rich and variegated tradition of soups, olive oil dishes, rice pilafs, stuffed vegetables, pastries, puddings and syrupy desserts underlying these popular dishes. It offers unique tastes in spicy and tart appetizers, pickles, fruit preserves, compote, sherbet, boza (a thick (...)full story

"Sipping coffee, sitting in a café are all but excuse,
one’s soul seeks camaraderie in a cup of coffee thus put to good use."
Turkish coffee is the healthiest kind to consume as the ground seeds stay at the bottom of the cup and are not meant to be swallowed. This same reason has brought the tradition of fortune telling from Turkish coffee to life.
It was circa 450 years ago that Suleiman the Magnificent’s Governor of the Yemen, Ozdemir Pasha brought coffee from the Yemen to the Ottoman (...)full story

The coastal strip from Konyaaltı to Lara reveals a modern urban concept. Antalya is a developed Mediterranean city with wide boulevards and parks stretching along the shore. The restaurants accommodate a broad spectrum of tastes and budgets from fast food to French. It is one of the few cities combining the conveniences of urban life with the pleasures of a seaside resort.
It is best to start a tour of Antalya from the center of the city. The many minarets, tower, gate, narrow streets (...)full story

Mount Ararat, or Ağrı Dağı as it is known in Turkish, projects a kaleidoscopic appearance changing according to season, time of day and direction of the wind.
The province of Iğdır where the mountain is located has an altitude of about 1000 m while Doğubayazıt on the southern side is higher than 2000 m. The weather is generally hazy in Iğdır while it is crystal clear in Doğubayazıt. Due to climatic differences the mountain appears (...)full story

Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (1886-1973), who had the penname “The Fisherman of Halicarnassus”, was identified throughout his life with Bodrum, the small Aegean town where he found refuge from the political turmoil of his time. He warned the casual visitor to Bodrum: "Don’t think that you will leave as you came, those preceding you thought like that as well. They always left their thoughts behind."
Bodrum castle was devastated by war and natural disaster and rebuilt a number of (...)full story

The Datça Peninsula extends into the sea like a long, green dagger. It is connected to the mainland through the 800 m Balıkaşıran isthmus, the narrowest one in the peninsula. Without this one, Datça would an island.
The high-ceilinged, straight-roofed and whitewashed stone houses in the Reşadiye district suggest that a wealthy community once lived in Datça. In this respect it conforms to the ancient topographical rule that plebeians would be settled on the seashore and (...)full story

The red rock formations of Fethiye are punctured with the royal graves and join the blue of the sky and the sea as well as the green of the olive trees. The tombs glisten in the sun as though the rocks were hollowed only yesterday. The harbor bustles with tourists and the bazaar is full of souvenir shops.
Fethiye is surrounded by bays that enchant in their pristine beauty and are accessible by boat as well as by land. The turquoise waters of the Dead Sea offer a unique experience. If your (...)full story

It is the region surrounded by the provinces of Niğde, Nevşehir and Aksaray in Central Anatolia. Its original name of Kapatukya derives from Persian and means "country of beautiful horses". Cappadoccia came under Hittite, Phrygian, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman rule. It is renowned for its "fairy chimneys." During volcanic activity millions of years ago, a layer of ash and lava accumulated on the plateau which was then in part covered by a layer of basalt. Pounded (...)full story

Located on the westernmost tip of the Mediterranean between Dalyan and Fethiye, Göcek is a lovely village built in the recesses of the Kapı Mountains. It offers refuge from the noise and traffic of the big citties, and apart from a few cyclists, everyone is a pedestrian in Göcek.
The village was discovered by Turkish artists almost simultaneously as Bodrum / Halicarnassus and bears witness to their untrammeled creativity. On “Bedri Rahmi” Bay, there is a picture of the fish that the (...)full story

Mardin
Mardin is a city of stone, which continued to be the main building material even after the discovery of concrete. The most prominent aspect of the city’s architecture are Assyrian monasteries and churches, for Mardin used to be the center of the Christian Assyrians until 1932. A great many buildings in the center of the city date from the Turkish Artuklu and Akkoyunlu dynasties and the Ottoman Empire. From the Artuk period, there is the magnificent Ulucami and the Emüddin complex (...)full story

Hasankeyf is located in the Upper Mesopotamia region dominated by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, an area also known as the Fertile Crescent. It has enjoyed the privileges of standing at the crossroads of Near Eastern and Anatolian cultures for centuries.
Throughout history many tribes with different religions settled in Hasankeyf and sculpted and embroidered it like a work of art. They carved thousands of houses, stores, warehouses and churches in rocks. They built palaces, bridges, (...)full story

Nemrut is one of the most astounding sites in Turkey: A collection of colossal statues on a remote mountain (Nemrut) 2150m high, adorning the temple and tomb of King Antiochus. It was unknown until 1881. Nemrut has since been a significant attraction.
Breaking away from the Seleucid Empire, Mithridates I Callinicus founded the independent Commagene Kingdom in 109 BC. After his death in 64 BC, he was succeeded by his son Antiochus. Antiochus deemed himself worthy of god-like status, and (...)full story

The preferred itinerary for the Blue Voyage spans the Aegean and Mediterranean bays between Bodrum and Demre. There is also the alternative of starting from Istanbul and extending the journey to Antalya.
After breakfast in Marmaris, we arrive in Ekincik after an almost two hour trip. One group decides to visit the Kaunos ruins while the others take off for Demre. In Kaunos, the sites include the acropolis, theater, basilica, old harbor, well, hamam, sanctuary and arched promenade while in (...)full story

Olympos is out of this world: A narrow valley winding towards the sea; an antique city covered with a pine forest and in slumber for many centuries; an harbor and the clear blue sea... The imposing valley is dotted with wooden houses built on posts and trees.
The antique city of Olympos was built in the second century BC. It was impoverished after the raids of pirate ships and fell into decline when power shifted to other centers in late antiquity. It was briefly rehabilitated in the (...)full story

One of the best known posters of Turkey is of Pamukkale located in the province of Denizli in the Aegean region.
The key to the magnificent travertine formations that are partly white as a cloud (Pamukkale literally means castle of cloud) and partly reflect the colors of the rainbow is a river flowing from the southern slope of Çaldağ Mountain. Due to the high calcium oxide content of its water, limestone is deposited in the region through which it flows. Pamukkale is also known for (...)full story

The Şamı stream originates in the foothills of the Soğukoluk hill located about 15 km southwest of the Erfelek district of Sinop. It traverses a distance of almost two kilometers as it moves from one shelf to another at an altitude of 300 m. The valley covered with a dense forest, that appears to be stretching to the sky, is covered with about 30 waterfalls that were created by the cold, rapid waters of the Şamı stream and are called by the same name.
Perhaps after (...)full story

You can watch İzmir, one of the most beautiful cities of Turkey, from the elevation of Kadifekale which is the castle commissioned by Alexander the Great. İzmir and the surrounding area is rich in both historical and natural beauty.
Bergama (Pergamum) is one of the most important historic sites of Turkey housing many remains from the Hellenistic Kingdom of Pergamum, including the Altar of Zeus that was smuggled out of the country during the first amateur excavations. Talks (...)full story

Van was the capital city of the ancient Urartu kingdom.
Excavations have revealed palaces and sanctuaries in Altıntepe (Erzincan), Kayadere (Muş), Van, Patnos, Çavuştepe, Adilcevaz and Toprakkale and some of the findings are on exhibit at the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara.
There are four islands on Lake Van which are accessible by ferry. The most striking one, Akdamar, bears traces of medieval Christian civilization with the almost 1100 year-old church called by (...)full story

The lokum was introduced to Europe in the 18th century by a British traveler to the Ottoman lands and became known in the West as the Turkish delight. It is made by cooking curdled melted sugar with cornstarch. Walnuts, nuts or pistachios are used as filling. It is currently produced in different colors and aromas. It is a Turkish specialty that is soft, not too sweet and is prepared and sold in the shape of small (...)full story

Nazar boncuğu is the blue bead believed to ward off evil. It is used as a protection from the negative energy presumed to spread from the glance of certain people to what are deemed particularly vulnerable and precious groups: children, domestic animals and, and at an earlier period, household goods. The beads are hung visibly on the would be victim of the evil eye. This may be the shoulder of a child, the forehead of a calf, the doorpost of a house or the tip of a stick dug in a (...)full story

It is a game that the Turks have enjoyed for many centuries. It was the public form of athletic competition in nomadic Turkish society where the equestrian tradition was very strong: Turks were born and grew up on horseback, a great many fought as cavalry officers, their only drink was the horse milk called kımız and many perished on horseback. Cirit was accepted as a war game by the Ottomans in the 16th century. While its scope has shrank in the current day cirit is still played (...)full story

It is a traditional form of wrestling older than 600 centuries and characterized by rubbing oil into the skin to make it slippery and hard to hold. During Ottoman times the imperial wrestling games were complemented by games held on occasions such as weddings and the religious holiday of ramadan as well as for the benefit of pious foundations.
Kırkpınar is today part of the Samona village of Greece. Following the First World War, the games were moved to a district called (...)full story

The "dance" of the Whirling Dervishes is called Sema. Sema is part of the inspiration of Mevlana (1207- 1273) as well as part of Turkish custom, history, beliefs and culture.
It represents a mystical journey propelled through the love of perfection and involving a spiritual ascent through the mind. Turning towards the truth, the person grows through love, deserts the ego, finds the truth and arrives at perfection and then returns from this spiritual journey as someone who reached maturity (...)full story

The hamam, or Turkish bath as it is alternatively known, stands for more than getting a leisurely bath. It is a rite of the body in which the elements are harnessed to cleansing and purification. It inverts the classical notion of the bondage of the body to the soul and suggests a different metaphysics.
Further, the hamam as a social institution played a key role both in the socialization and segregation of Ottoman men and women (in a manner comparable to the harem). As a public space (...)full story