Celebrating 94 years

Sunday was Republic Day in Turkey.  It is 94 years since the formal creation of the Republic of Turkey.  It is hard for us to imagine what a momentous change this was.  For 600 years under the Ottoman Empire the Sultan had enjoyed absolute power.  By contrast, in England the power of the monarchy began to be limited by a constitution in 1688.

In 1908 a group known as ‘The Young Turks’ led a rebellion against the Sultan and introduced a multi-party democracy.  Unfortunately not only did the group quickly start to fragment but, rejected by the Allied Forces, it joined sides with Germany in the First World War.

After the war, the Empire finally collapsed and would have been carved up by the Allied Forces if Ataturk had not organised the struggle for Independence.  As it was, he chased out the occupying forces and in July 1923 the territorial integrity of the new state was recognised in the Treaty of Lausanne.

Then began what might be seen as an even bigger struggle – the transformation of the country into the democratic, secular Republic of Turkey.  This transformation seems to be ongoing...in the 94 years of its history Turkey has experienced two coups (not counting last year’s ‘failed coup’) and a number of military interventions; had three new constitutions, as well as frequent amendments to the constitution (the last following the referendum earlier this year).

 

Ataturk Statue in Beskaza Square, Fethiye

The words of Ataturk’s famous ‘Address to Youth’ given in 1927 and still taught to school children are beginning to seem rather prophetic:

“Turkish Youth, Your first duty is to preserve and to defend TURKISH INDEPENDENCE and the TURKISH REPUBLIC forever. This is the very foundation of your existence and your future... In the future, too, there may be malevolent people at home and abroad, who will wish to deprive you of this treasure.....And sadder and graver than all these circumstances, those who hold power within the country may be in error, misguided and may even be traitors. The country may be impoverished, ruined and exhausted. Youth of Turkey's future, even in such circumstances it is your duty to save Turkish Independence and the Republic.”

There is certainly a strong national pride and there were celebrations all over the country yesterday.  Cem and Kaan went to the Fethiye celebrations - a sea-front walk and a concert in the large square with the statue of Ataturk (above photo).  Here is a taste of it...

Blue skies in Turkey

The summer season is coming to an end.  Many hotels have closed already and it is quiet everywhere.  At Poppy we have twelve rooms of students along with our last guests.  The weather, though, is glorious with cool evenings and early mornings but daytime temperatures of around 25.  It was perfect weather for the Race for Life yesterday which Cem, Kaan and I all completed (yes all you doubters - Cem REALLY walked 5km, this time without a stop for tea or a cigarette!)

 It’s also great weather for sight-seeing so I had a trip out with my friend Annie to see...more old stones!  This time it was Xanthos and Letoon, two important centres in the ancient civilization of Lycia.  They are about forty minutes drive from Fethiye (just off the road to Kalkan) and jointly form one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  I’ve seen them many times before – Cem used to visit both every day when he was doing jeep safari.  But the great thing about these places is that as they are still being excavated there is always something new to see.

I have written before about the Lycian people.  They were unique at the time for having the first democratic system – a system that allowed each city its freedom (including the city of Telmessos on the site of Fethiye) but saw them join together under a government consisting of representatives from each city for larger matters such as protecting the region.

According to one source I read (and I love this), the contemporary image of the Lycians was like that of the Swiss today – rich, hard-working, conservative and independent.

 

Xanthos theatre

Xanthos was the capital of Lycia.  Some of its warriors took part in the Trojan War and twice when threatened with invasion, the population chose mass suicide instead.

It was chosen as a heritage site for the way it demonstrates the combination of Lycian and Greek styles and particularly for the impressive tombs found here.  These include the Harpy tomb, the original frieze of which is in the British museum and the beautiful Nereid tomb, the whole of which is in the British museum.

These tombs, built for people of a certain class, demonstrate the quality of Lycian stonemasonry.  Their position close to the theatre, also shows that in Lycia the dead were not relegated to cemeteries on the edge of the city but kept close to the centre.

 

Harpy monumnet (right), Xanthos

Letoon was a sacred religious centre and the place where political decisions were announced to the public. It includes three temples dedicated to Artemis, Apollo and their mother Leto and excavations uncovered a plinth (now in Fethiye museum) inscribed in Lycian, Greek and Aramaic, which helped in the understanding of the Lycian language.

 

Letoon

On the subject of old stones, Cem reminded me the other day that the Turkish writer and artist Cevdet Sakir once wrote to our Queen asking for the return to Turkey of pieces like the ‘Xanthos marbles’.  They belonged, he said, under blue skies and could not be properly appreciated under the grey skies of England.  The letter was apparently passed to a curator of the British Museum who thanked him for pointing this out and said that as a result of his letter, the ceiling of the room housing the pieces had been painted blue!

Nereid Monument in the British Museum