DID YOU KNOW? Some Interesting Facts About Turkey!!!!
Did You Know?

· The land of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia is today’s Turkey.
· The earliest landscape painting in history exist on a wall of a Catalhoyuk(a town in East Turkey) house dating from 6200 BC. It shows the eruption of a volcano, probably that of Hasandag (a famous town in East Turkey).
· 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 1284 BC. (Hittites are one of the oldest civilizations and I proudly say that they were settled in Hattusas, which is today’s Bogazkale, 10 km to my hometown Sungurlu).
· Many city names in different parts of the world such as Philadelphia, Paris, Antioch, Troy or the continental name “Europe” originate in Anatolia.
· The oldest known shipwreck on earth was excavated by a team headed by Don Frey in Ulu Burun near Kas(a Mediterranean town in south Turkey).
· In 640 BC, for the first time in history, coins made of electrum were used by the Lydians in Sardis(Sart).
· King Midas was an Anatolian.
· Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot near Ankara(the capital city of today’s Turkey). The double knot in Turkish carpets is called “Gordes Dugum’u”, which is the Turkish expression for the Gordian knot.
· Two of the Seven Wonders of the World stood in Anatolia: the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The others are the Pyramids of Egypt, the Hanging Garden of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos of Alexandria.
· The famous words of Julius Caesar “Veni, vidi, vici (I came I saw I conquered)” were said in Amasya, east of Ankara when he came to Anatolia in 47 BC.
· Anatolia was the first major stronghold of Christianity. 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(known as Dicle in Turkey) and Euphrates(known as Firat in Turkey) rise from the mountains of eastern Turkey.
· Mount Ararat (Agri Dagi) is in Anatolia. It is believed that Ararat is the place where Noah’s Ark landed. Ararat is the Hebrew form for Urartu, the Assyrian name for a kingdom that existed in the region from the 11th century to the 7th century BC.
· Early Christians escaping from Roman persecution sheltered in Cappadocia(a historical place in west of Turkey ).
· St. Paul was born in Tarsus(southern Turkey). He undertook most of his missionary journeys and wrote most of his biblical epistles to the early Christians in Anatolia.
· The Seven churches of Apocalypse are all situated in Anatolia; Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelpia and Laodicea.
· St. Nicholas, known as Santa Claus today, was born and lived as bishop of Myra in Demre(an Anatolian(Turkish) town). According to the legend, he secretly bestowed dowries upon the daughters of a poor citizen. This originated the custom of giving presents on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas, a tradition later transferred to the Christmas Day.
· For the first time in history, the Seljuks created state insurance for the losses of tradesmen.
· Sultan Beyazit-II dispatched the Ottoman Navy to bring the Jewish people who were from Spain. They were brought safely to the Ottoman lands in 1492.
· Tulips were introduced to Holland from Anatolia by Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq. He was Ambassador of Charles-V to Suleyman the Magnificent in 1554.
· The first man ever to fly was Turkish. Using two wings Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi flew from the Galata Tower over the Bosphorus to land in Uskudar in the 17th century.
· Istanbul houses the historical building of Sirkeci Train Station. This served as the last stop of the Simplon-Orient Express “king of trains and the train of kings” between Paris and Istanbul from 1883 to 1977.
· The number of species of flowers in Turkey is approximately 9000 of which 3000 are endemic. In Europe for instance there are 11500 species.
· Many valuable findings from Anatolia can also be seen in Museums all over the world. The Pergamum Museum of Berlin contains the Zeus Altar., Gateway to the Sanctuary of Athena from Pergamum, Statues from Priene and the Great Market Gate from Miletus. The British Museum has become the adopted home for the Temple of Artemis from Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and the Harpy Tomb from Xanthos.

(Quoted from “Turkish Odyssey” by Serif Yenen)

Some Interesting Snapshots of Turkey....
***TURKEY in a Snapshots***

**A land of resources
-A treasure of history, a melting pot of civilizations and cultures.
-The variety and beauty of her landscape and climate attract tourists to her beaches, mountains, plains and valleys.
-A dynamic nation of 65.5 million people with an age average of 27.

**Committed to democracy and pluralism
-A multi party parliamentary democracy since 1946.
-A secular democracy among more than 50 republics with predominantly Moslem population.

**A free market economy
-Free and privately-owned media, with 16 (now more than 30) nation-wide private TV networks, broadcasting through two Turkish communication satellites.
-A member of NATO since 1952, an associate member of the European Union since 1964, in Customs Union with the EU on December 10-11, 1999.

**Strategically placed
-A physical and cultural bridge between Europe and Asia, in the heart of Eurasia, bordering 12 nations and 4 seas.
-An outlet for the Black Sea basin countries to warm seas through the Turkish Straits.
-A significant contributor to the development of the newly independent states of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
-A prospective energy terminal for export of Caspian oil and natural gas.

**A regional leader
-Contributor to UN peacekeeping operations worldwide.
-Initiator of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation region, which groups 11 nations from the Balkans to the Caucasus.
-Supporter of the Southeast European countries Cooperation Process and initiator of the Multinational Peace Force Southeastern Europe.
-Supporter of the Middle East Peace Process and the only regional country which participates in the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) upon the request of both the Palestinian and Israeli sides.

**An Economic Power
-Transformed from a traditional agricultural economy into a modern industrial economy.
-A modern telecommunication and transportation network. Telecommunication network ranks 9th in the world in terms of size.
-Included in the recently established G-20 Group which consists of G-7 + countries with fast emerging economies.
-The 16th largest economy in the world.
-Exports rose from 2.9 billion US Dollars in 1980 to 26.9 billion US Dollars in 1998. Share of industrial goods rose, within the same period, from 36 % to 88 %.
-The sum of portfolio of the Turkish contractors in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Russia and the countries of Central Asia total 40 billion US Dollars.
-Europe’s largest supplier of textiles and apparel.
-Has the only F-16 fighter plane factory outside the U.S.
-Ranked by the United States Department of Commerce among the “Big Ten” (the top ten emerging markets in the world).
-The World Bank has qualified Turkey as one of the ten most promising emerging markets.

**A land of opportunity
-Privatization program including state enterprises; active in airlines, banking, telecommunications and petroleum.
-Privatization and its .5 billion per year energy investment program offering important opportunities for foreign investors.
-The Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) for hydroelectric power generation and irrigation creating vast investment opportunities in agro-industries.



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