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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The land which we now know as Turkey is a land of dichotomies that has had an illustrious, as well as an infamous past, filled with great tolerance and even greater intolerance.

It is the land of Troy, birthplace of Homer, Santa Claus and tulips, tryst place of Marc Anthony and Cleopatra, kingdoms of Croesus and Midas, the rescuer of the Jews, the perpetrator of the world's first genocide, and the refuge of the Virgin Mary. The words of Julius Caesar's veni, vidi, vici resounded across Amasya, east of Ankara in 47 BCE.

Thus, it is a land of antiquity and iniquity, although Anatolia, the western area of Asian Turkey, is one of the oldest inhabited (as early as 7500 BCE) lands, Turkey, as a national state, is one of the youngest (1918). The Turks arrived in Anatolia from by way of continuous migrations and incursion. The passage of nine centuries has resulted in present-day TUrkey.

Since its early history, Anatolia has been the birthplace of great civilizations and empires that have battled for control.

Anatolia's first known human inhabitants appeared in the region as early as 7500 BCE. The first great civilization was that of the Hittites, who worshipped a sun goddess and a storm god. As the Mesopotamians called Anatolia (the Land of the Hatti), the newcomers were mistakenly called Hittite. Indo-European in origin, the Hittites recognized equality between men and women and even had rights for slaves. Although the monarchy was patrilineal, it was a kingship based on the idea of primus inter pares, first among equals, as the ruler was required to bring matters before a senate, consisting of aristocrats known as the Pankus class.

The Hittites dominated Anatolia from the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1600 BCE), and were the counter superpower to the Egyptians, causing clashes with Egypt, under the great Ramses II, and were able to capture Syria. 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 BCE.

The Ilium of King Priam, in Homer's epic, corresponds to layer VI of Troy (1325-1275 BCE), which was destroyed in an earthquake in 1275 BCE, followed by the pillaging of Troy VII in 1240 to 1200 by the Achaeans. The city captured by the Achaeans was Troy VII (1275-1240/1200 BCE). A massive invasion of "sea people" from Greek islands put unbearable pressure on the Hittites and its smaller kingdoms.

In the eighth century BCE, the Greek civilization developed, through their association with Mesopotamia, through the intermediary of late Hittite princedoms living in south-eastern Anatolia. The Greeks acquired the Phoenician alphabet from AI Mina and the mythology and figurative art from late Hittite cities such as Kargamish and Malatya.

The Phrygians were Balkan people Who came into Anatolia around the year 1200 BCE, and became a political entity after 750 BCE. The Hellenic world knew the Phrygian King as Midas, the legendary figure with long ears whose touch was golden. The Assyrians record that he was king from 717 to 709 BCE. This powerful kingdom of Midas was swept aside by the Cimmeriansin

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (Aft, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, , Cyprus Pg. 1 the first quarter of the seventh century. Scattered groups of Phrygians continued to evolve in Central Anatolia through the sixth century BCE.

In the ninth century BCE, the first literary treasure of Western civilization, the Iliad of Homer, was born. Izmer was the birthplace of Homer.

During the era of the natural philosophers (600-545 BCE), Anatolian culture superseded Egyptian and Mesopotamian. They rejected the idea of genies, fairies and mythological causes for natural phenomena, and instead, sought and investigated natural phenomena as the true cause. Thales, using the same methods used today, predicted an eclipse of the sun for May 28,585 BCE. It was the first prediction of a natural event in history.

In Sardis, the reign of Croesus, fabled for his wealth (575-545 BCE), saw the invention of money. For the first time in history, coins made of electrum (a natural mixture of gold and silver) were used to facilitate and regulate commerce. The Lydian capital of Sardis was one of the most advanced cities of the ancient world.

From 550 to 530 BCE, Cyrus, emperor of Persia, conquered Anatolia. The , in turn, were removed by Alexander the Great, who conquered the entire from Greece to around 330 BCE. The Macedonians, too, were ousted by the Galatians (Celts) who established a capital at Ankara in 279 BCE, who intermingled with the Seleucid, Pontic, Pergamum and Armenian kingdoms.

Roman rule brought relative peace and prosperity for almost 300 years, and a safe haven for Christianity. In fact, Jesus's followers were first named Christian there. Paul began his ministry there, too.

The Roman Empire began to weaken around 250 CE, until Constantine reunited it in 324. He oversaw the building of a new capital, which he called Constantinople. Justinian (527-65) brought the eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire to its greatest strength, reconquering Italy, the Balkans, Anatolia and North Africa, Byzantine art was born in Anatolia at the end of the Roman era.

The armies of Islam, having conquered all other areas including Persia and Egypt, threatened the walls of Constantinople (669-78).

Thus, the first Anatolian Turkish dynasty was the Great Seljuk Turkish Empire of the 11th century, and was the 'first to rule what is now Turkey, Iran and Iraq. They originally ruled Persia, and absorbed both the Islamic religion and Persian culture. The Seljuks were shaken by the Crusades and overrun by Mongol hordes, but clung to power until the arrival of the Ottomans who inherited the legacy of the Seljuks.

And what of the future inhabitants, the Turks themselves and their ?

Chinese records report that the first appearance of the Turks in history was in the Komen Mountains. The Tagar culture, however, originated from the Karasuk culture which flourished in the same area in 2000 BCE.

Turkish political history in Asia starts with the Huns. The Hun state (200 BCE) became a significant and powerfUl state during the reign of its founder, Mete Khan. Mete defeated the Mongolians and then the Yuechis, thus taking control of the western gates and trade routes of . He then seized Eastern Turkestan.

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg.2 Later, with the collapse of the Asian Hun State, a new state called G6ktOrk was founded by the Turkish tribes who adopted the traditions and administrative experience of the Huns.

Aside from AtatOrk, Bilge Khan and KUltegin are the best known of Turkish statesmen. They asserted that the state could not solely be ruled by fighting and bravery, and the Khanate required wisdom. It was because of this that both the Khans and Tonyukuk, another G6ktOrk Khan, immortalized their accomplishments with inscriptions. These inscriptions became the first written texts of the .

The G6ktOrk State gave way to the Uigur Turks, who were the native tribes of the Orhun and Selenge valleys (741-840).

Meanwhile, another group of Huns migrated towards the West, and they settled in a region to the north of the Black Sea extending to the Danube River. They made raids on Iran and Anatolia via the Caucasia, and then they attacked the territories of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. They fought with the in 428, and two years later, reached the areas which are presently the Netherlands and Denmark. The Western Huns were known as the first Turkish state founded in Europe. Its territories extended from the banks of the Rhine to the Volga River under the leadership of Attila the Hun. The Western Hun State collapsed a short time after the passing of Attila (470).

During the collapse of the Hun Empire in Europe, a new wave of tribal migrations started in Central Asia. North of the Black Sea saw yet another wave of Turkish migration. The first tribes to arrive were the Sabirs, Sarogurs and Onogurs. These Ogur tribes raided the Byzantine territories 'from Macedonia to Thessaly. BUlgarian Turks also came to this region alongside the Ogur Turks (482). The Avars, along with the Bulgarian Turks, besieged the Byzantine capital at the beginning of the seventh century.

The Ottoman Empire began as the banding together of late 13th century Turkish warriors fleeing the Mongols. By 1453, the Ottomans, under Mehmet the Conqueror, took Constantinople. Sultan SOleyman the Magnificent (1494-66) oversaw the apex of the empire; he beautified Constantinople, rebuilt Jerusalem, and expanded the Ottoman Empire to the gates of Vienna. At its height, the Ottoman Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to western Algeria. It lasted for 600 years, and was one of the most powerful empires in the history of the Mediterranean region, generating a great cultural enrichment of Islamic art, architecture and literature.

However, its decline had begun by 1585. By the 19th century, decline and misrule made ethnic nationalism appealing. The subject people of the Ottoman Empire revolted, with the direct encouragement and assistance of other European powers. After bitter fighting in 1832, the Kingdom of Greece was formed. Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Albanians, Armenians and Arabs all sought independence until the revolt of the young liberals known as the Young Turks in 1909.

From 1908 to 1915, the government of the Young Turks (Taalat Pasha, Enver Pasha and Djemal Pasha) stirred Turkish nationalism with Pan-Turkism based on racial purity of Zia Gokalp, Turkey for the Turks.

This government of the Young Turks and their Zia Gokalp wrote one of the most infamous and tragic chapters in Anatolian and Turkish history.

In 1915, the Young Turk government engineered the deportation of the whole Armenian population of about 1,750,000 to Syria and Mesopotamia. It was the follow-up to the April 24th

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (Alt, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg.3 execution of 250 Armenian intellectuals and religious leaders. This day marked the start of those deportations and the resulting genocide.

The death toll is estimated to be between 600,000 and 1,500,000 during the years of 1915 to 1923. The westem part of the historical homeland of the Armenian people was emptied of Armenians.

As the Empire continued to collapse, Turkey made the unfortunate decision to side with Germany in World War I. In 1923, the victorious Allies carved out Turkey's current boundaries at the Conference of Lausanne. Turkey became a republic, with Kemal AtatOrk as her first president.

Mustafa Kemal (Atatiirk, or Father Turk) undertook the job of completely remaking Turkish society. By 1938, a constitution had been adopted, polygamy abolished, and the fez was prohibited. Constantinople became , and women obtained the right to vote. The Ottoman sultanate and caliphate were abolished, and modernization, reform and industrialization began under AtatOrk's direction. In 1928, Islam was removed as the state religion, and thus, he secularized Turkish society, reducing Islam's dominant role. He replaced the Perso-Arabic script with the Latin alphabet.

AtatOrk is revered as a true hero in Turkey: his statue is everywhere, and there are laws against defaming or insulting him.

AtatOrk's successor, Ismet In6nO, managed a precarious neutrality in World War II, then oversaw Turkey through the transition to a democracy.

Turkey invaded Cyprus by sea and air on July 20, 1974, following the failure to resolve conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Turkey unilaterally announced a cease-fire on August 16, after having gained control of 40 percent of the island. Turkish Cypriots established their own state in the north on February 13, 1975.

In 1980, political infighting and civil unrest brought the country to a halt. The military stepped in and took control, but at the price of strict control and human right abuses.

The head of the military government, General Kenan Evren, resigned his military commission, and became Turkey's new president. Free elections in 1983 saw Turgut ozal's take power.

Turkey has applied for EU status but is haunted by her dismal human rights record, a shaky economy, failure to accept the responsibility for the Armenian genocide, and the ongoing conflict with her 12 million Kurds. In fact, Turkey does not officially recognize the Kurds as a minority group. Ankara pursued a policy of assimilation following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Officially, there were no Kurds, only "mountain Turks': and the Kurdish language and other recognizable signs of Kurdish life were outlawed.

In June, 2002, Turkey became a major intemational peacekeeping force in , taking over from the British forces.

LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND

Turkish is spoken by about a 61 million people living primarily in the Republic of Turkey (46 million). It is also spoken in 35 other countries including Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, BUlgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, EI Salvador, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iran, Iraq and Israel.

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg.4 Turkish belongs to the Southern Turkish branch of the Altaic family of languages, and thus, is closely related to Mongolian, Japanese and perhaps, Korean. The fundamental features of the Ural-Altaic languages, which distinguish them 'from the Indo­ European, are as follows: o vowel harmony o no gender o agglutination (affixes) o adjectives precede nouns o verbs at the end of the sentence Turkish has several dialects. The Turkish dialects can be divided into two major groups: Western and Eastern. Turkish is most closely related to Azeri and Turkmen. All three are the result of a series of conquests and migrations of the nomadic Turkic people, primarily the Ughuz 'from north-central Asia in the sixth century CEo These migrations ceased by the 13th century. Just prior to this time, the languages of Anatolia had been Greek, Armenian and Kurdish. Historically, the language can be classified according to three separate periods because of the inherent characteristics of each of the periods: 1. Old Anatolian Turkish (old Ottoman, between the 13th to the 15th century) 2. Ottoman Turkish (from the 16th to the 19th century) 3. Modern Turkish o Old Anatolian (up to the 15th century) The KoktOrk (GoktOrk) inscriptions, together with Uighur writings, are in Old Turkish. This term refers to the Turkish spoken, prior to the conversion to Islam, on the steppes of Mongolia and the Tarim basin. The oldest written records are found upon stone monuments in Central Asia, in the Orhon, Yeniseyand Talas regions within the boundaries of present-day Mongolia, and belong to the years 725,732 and 735 CEo With the emergence of the yagatay Dynasty, which came abol,Jt when the Empire of Genghis Khan was divided among his sons, a new wave of Turkish literature was born and blossomed under the influence of Persian literature. o Ottoman (16th to the 19th century) Ottoman Turkish was basically Turkish in structure, but with a heavy overlay of Arabic and Persian vocabulary and occasional grammatical influence. Ottoman Turkish coexisted with spoken Turkish, the latter being considered a ''gutter language", and not worthy of study. Ottoman Turkish, and the spoken language insofar as anyone wrote it, were both represented by a Perso-Arabic script. o Modern (20th century) In 1928, after the formation of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal A tatiirk had the Latin alphabet adapted to the Turkish vowel system, thus, replacing the Perso-Arabic script. He believed that to reach the level of contemporary civilization, this change was essential for accessibility to Western culture. It also involved considerable language reform. Spoken Turkish was declared the language of the country; measures were taken to remove Persian and Arabic loan words, and to replace them with native Turkish or Turkic words.

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, BUlgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg.5 A massive literacy campaign was also undertaken. The Turkish Language Institute was established in 1932 to carry out linguistic research and contribute to the development of the language.

• SCRIPT: The earliest types of script, used by the Turks, were the K6ktOrk (G6ktOrk) and the Uighur. Up to the fifteenth century, the Anatolian Turks used the Uighur script to write Turkish. In later periods, many other forms of script would be used: Nestorian writing in the northeast, Sogd, Uighur and Pali writings in the south-east, Manichaean texts in Brahman writing, and from the 11 th century onwards, Perso-Arabic script for Islamic texts. The Perso-Arabic script was adopted after the conversion to Islam about 800 years ago. Depending on the region in which they lived, the Turks have also used Suryani, Annenian, Georgian and ancient Greek alphabets.

LINGUISTIC COMPARISON ENGLISH TURKISH LANGUAGE Indo-European Altaic FAMILY (West Gennanic branch) (South Turkic branch) WRrnNG - alphabet, Latin script - alphabet, Latin script SYSTEM - non-phonetic - phonetic - written from left to right - written from left to right - letters disconnected - letters disconnected - printedlwritten script - printedlwritten script # OF LETTERS 26 29 VOWELS 6 written, 15-16 spoken 8 Turkic vowel harmony is when the vowels of suffixes harmonize with the vowels of noun and verb stems; thus, if the stem has a round vowel, then the vowel of the suffix must be round, and so forth. There are 3 types: back vs front, high vs low and rounded vs unrounded ones. If the first vowel of a word is a back vowel, the others will also be back vowels. If the first vowel is a front vowel, the others will also be front vowels. Unrounded vowels are followed by unrounded. Rounded vowels are followed by low unrounded or high rounded ones.

DIFFERENT CONSONANTS th w, ng ..., (this, the), (sing) The letter 9 (referred to as yumusak g, soft g) is silent and serves as a link to make a preceding vowel longer. No word begins with this letter. CAPITALIZATION - begins new sentences - begins new sentences with capitals with capitals - days/months use no capitals except when writing dates

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg.6 COMBINATION - each syllable has vowell - syllable either single vowel, or single OF LET"rERS consonant sound vowel with number of consonants • many consonant clusters - each syllable has vowel/consonant(s) sound but vowel could be syllable NUMBERS - written from left to right - written from left to right ORDER • sentence • subject + verb + object • subject + object + verb - time words at end or beginning of sentence • adjective • adjective + noun • adjective + noun When there is an adjective before the noun, bir can come either before the adjective or between the adjective and the noun: 1. bir kirmizi palto = one red coat 2. kirmizi bir palto = a red coat When bir comes after the adjective and before the noun, it generally stands for the indefinite article, as shown in the examples above. NOUNS Separate suffixes on nouns indicate both gender and number, but there is no grammatical gender as such. Nouns are declined in 3 declensions with 6 case endings: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative and ablative; number is marked by a plural suffix. ARTICLES • indefinite • a, an + noun - birAlUmber There is no definite article; the number "one" may be used as an indefinite article. • definite - the + noun - no definite article EX: ev= house, the house VERBS - subject separate - subject added to verb - verb only inflected for - uses suffixes on root and reflects tense some verbs (to be) EX: geldi = slhe came and in some tenses gelecek = s/he will come - verb to be expressed by suffixes Verbs can be so complex through their use of affixes that they constitute whole sentences in themselves. Afyonkarahisarlilastiramadiklarim/zdanmisiniz? Aren't you one of those people whom we tried, unsuccessfully, to make resemble the citizens ofAfyonkarahisar?

Verbs agree with their subjects in case and number, and, as in nouns, separate identifiable suffixes perform these functions. The order of elements in a verb form is verb stem + tense marker + subject affix.

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, BUlgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg.7 PRONOUNS • subject - always written - can also be written on own or suffixed to verb

• object - differs from subject - appears after verb - appears before verb

• possessive - differs from above - hislhers have same form (adj) - appears before noun - appears before noun or can also be used as suffix to noun

PLURALS - adds suffix s, es, ies - add suffix ler/lar - has few irregular forms EX: evler= houses - when numbers are used, noun always in singular EX: iki ev= two houses

TENSES - 3 forms of verb: - 30 present, past, past part. - great deal of variation and inconsistency - tenses changed with ed - changed by suffixes suffix, whole word or with to be, to have, will COMMANDS - infinitive form of verb - root of verb - suffix added to verb to indicate subject of command - lutfen, please, always put with imperative form for politeness ?FORM - question word/auxiliary verb - yes/no = mVmu placed after what being + subject questioned - verb + subject - intonation Ex: AJlmi dun Istanbul'a gifti? DidM go to Istanbul yesterday? Ali dun Istanbul'a 9iD1 mi? Did AligQ to Istanbul yesterday? Alidun Istanbul'a mi gifti? Did Aligo to Istanbul yesterday? AliIIJJ.o. mu Istanbul'a gifti? Did Aligo to Istanbul yesterdav? The slight changes seen here reflect vowel harmony. NEGATIVE - uses auxiliary verbs - suffix added to verb FORM - to be + not VERBI - verb + to + infinitive - verb + suffix + verb + conjugation 2ND VERB

MODAlS - modal + infinitive (no to) - exist as tenses FORMALITY - 3 levels - 2 levels: sen and siz forms lEVELS - levels changed by use - longer sentence structures in writing of modals and longer sentence structures

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, BUlgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg.8 SWEARING! - involves subjects of - involves subjects of sexlbodily OATHS sexlbodily functions functions, religion - insallah, God willing (Arabic) - blessings on family, successful businessllife

VOCABULARY! - higher level of writing, - Arabic, Persian, French FOREIGN GreeklLatin INFLUENCE

WORDS FROM TURKISH: • yoghurt • caftan • pilaf • divan • caviar • shish-kebab • dervish • meander • baklava

LEARNING OF - word recognition, phonics, - phonetics WRITING! syllables READING

SKILLS OF - heavily dependent on - phonetics READING! sight recognition WRrnNG Literacy rate: 85%: 94% males, 77% females WORDS FROM TURKISH: angora, baklava, bridge (from bir uch, one three), bulgur, Byzantine, caftan, caviar, kebab, kiosk, mausoleum, parchment, (camp), tulip(turban), turquoise, yoghurt CULTURAL BACKGROUND EDUCATION

Children begin school at the age of six or seven. Primary education involves the training of children six to 14 years old. Secondary education comprises a minimum of three years' schooling in Iycees, professional and technical schools.

Education is compulsory from the ages of six to 14.

School system: 1. Basic Education School (8 years), ages 6 to 14 • Diploma awarded: IIkoretim Diplomasi (Basic Education Diploma)

2. Secondary (Anatolian High Schools) (Anatolu Liseri) (4 years), ages 14 to 18 • Diploma awarded: Devlet Lise Diplomasi

3. General Secondary (General High School/Genel Liseler; Anatolian High School; Science High School, Anatolian Fine Art High School; Teacher Training High School; Private High School) (3 years), ages 14 to 17 • Diploma awarded: Lise Diplomasi 4. Technical Secondary (Technical High SchooJlTeknik Liseler; Anatolian Technical High SchooVAnadolu Teknik Liseler) (4 years), ages 14 to 18 • Diploma awarded: Lise Diplomasi

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg.9 5. Vocational Secondary (Vocational High SchoollMeslek Liseler; Anatolian Technical High SchooVAnadolu Teknik Liseeler) (3 years), ages 14 to 17 • Diploma awarded: Lise Diplomasi Academic year: October to June Languages of instruction: English, French, German, Turkish Admission to university: Secondary school credential required: Lise Diplomas; Entrance exams required: two tests. One is to measure candidates' verbal ability and the other their quantitative abilities. Grading system in secondary school Description: 0-5: 5, excellent; 4, good; 3, satisfactory; 2, passing; 1, failing; 0, failing and not included in general calculation Highest on scale: 5 Passlfail level: 3/2 Lowest on scale: 1 NAMES

Turkish names always have meanings. Some stem from the time the child was bom: Bayram (Feast), Safak (Dawn), Bahar (Spring), Ramazan (the holy month, Ramadan); or events during the birth: Yagmur (Rain), Tufan (Storm), or express the parents' feeling about the child, if they want him to be the last one: Yeter (Enough), Songul (Last Rose). Names of elders are chosen out of respect.

When a name is selected, it is given to the child by an imam or an elder in the family by holding the child in the direction of Mecca (Kible). Readings from the Qu'ran are whispered into his or her left ear, and his or her name is repeated three times into the right ear. "rRAOl"nONAL MARRIAGE CUSTOMS

Eany maniages are more 'frequent in rural areas. Also, these marriages are according to the wishes or approval of the families involved, whereas in the city it is generally the couples themselves who decide to marry.

In a traditional family, marriage is a family contract rather than a personal affair. Marriages are not conducted by the Imam alone. By law they must be civil. Approximately 40 percent of marriages are civil only, 50 percent are both civil and religious, 10 percent are religious only, which makes them illegal. Polygamy is very rare, about three percent.

It is illegal to marry before the age of 15 for women and 17 for men. The average age for girls to marry is around 17 to 18. For urban men, the problems of receiving an education, military service and acquiring a job delay marriage. RELIGION

Turkey is 99 percent Muslim, predominantly Sunni, with Shiites and Alawites in the east and south­ east.

Two great church councils were held there. The first delivered the Nicene Creed (325 CE), one that the wond's Catholics follow, and one in 787 that stated that church art need not be destroyed

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, BUlgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg. 10 as it did not violate the commandment concerning graven images.

The House of Mary is located in Ephesus. Many Christians believe in the tradition that Mary was entrusted to John the Disciple's care by Jesus on the cross, who took her to Anatolia.

• Circumcision Ceremony All Muslim boys are circumcised between the ages two to 14. Socially, the most prominent feature of the circumcision is the welcoming of the child into his religious community.

If a family has more than one boy, they wait for an appropriate time to perform all of the circumcisions. In this case, the youngest child might be younger than two. In some rural areas, villagers sometimes share expenses of a circumcision feast. Wealthy people often take poor boys or orphans together with their own children for circumcision. Charity organizations make collective ceremonies for poor boys and orphans. Due to school, circumcisions are held in summer months while the children are on vacation, from June through September, or on the weekends.

When a family determines the date for a circumcision feast, they invite relatives, friends and neighbours by formal invitations. Depending on the economic position of the family, feasts might take place in a hall or a hotel instead of a house. A richly-decorated room is prepared for the boy with a nice bed and many colourful, decorative items. Boys wear special costumes for this feast: a suit, a cape, a scepter and a special hat written with Masallah (God preserve him) on it.

The morning of the feast, the children of guests, along with the boy(s), are all taken for a tour in a big convoy on horseback, in horse carts or cars. This convoy is also followed by musicians playing drums and the clarinet.

Upon their return, the boy dresses in a long, loose, white robe and is circumcised by the surgeon while somebody holds him. The person holding the boy is called kirve, who is somebody close to the boy. The kirve will play an active role in the boy's lifetime, and has nearly equal rights with the father in decisions. This is similar to a godfather in Christianity.

Although there is no blood relation to his kirve, the boy is not allowed to marry his kirve's daughter as he is considered to have become part of that family.

After the circumcision, the boy is distracted with music, jokes or animation. Presents are also given. Words from the Qu'ran are recited, and guests are seated at tables for the celebratory meal. After a few days, the boy recovers, and the festivities end.

CALENDAR

Two calendars operate in Turkey. The official Turkish calendar is the Western (Gregorian) one. Religious festivals, however, follow the Hijri calendar, a lunar calendar which is behind the Gregorian one by 11 days every year.

The Muslim Sabbath is Friday starting at sunset on Thursday. Shops and businesses remain open but mosques and baths (Hamams) are busier. Sunday is the secular Sabbath and some shops will also close.

CELEBRATIONS

• New Year's Day, Labour Day, January 1st

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg. 11 • National Sovereignty and Children's Day, April 23rd - celebrates first meeting of republican parliament in 1920

• Hidrellez, May 6th (Gregorian calendar) and April 23rd (Julian or Rumi calendar) Hidrellez Day, or Ruz-i-Hizir (day of Hizir), is celebrated as the day on which Prophets Hizir and lIyas met with each other on earth. The words Hizir and lIyas have since fused to be pronounced as Hidrellez. In the folk calendar, the year was once divided into two: May 6 to November 8 was summer, called the Days of Hizir, and November 8 to May 6 was winter, called the Days of Kasim. May 6 thus, represents the end of winter and the start of summer. Hizir is a symbol of the start of spring and the new life which emerges from it.

Some believe that Hidrellez belongs to Mesopotamian and Anatolian cultures, while others believe that it belongs to pre-Islamic Central Asian Turkish culture and beliefs.

One belief suggests that Hizir is a prophet who attained immortality by drinking the water of life (ab-i hayat), and reached God, yet wanders among people from time to time, especially in the spring, helping in difficulty by distributing health and wealth.

People prepare for Hidrellez celebrations in villages and small towns beforehand. They clean house, wear clean clothing and prepare food and drink. Before Hidrellez, houses are cleaned as people think that Hizir will not visit unclean houses.

Giving alms, fasting and offering animals as a sacrifice are traditions in some parts of Anatolia to make prayers and wishes come true. Sacrifices and offerings are for "the sake of Hizir". Hidrellez celebrations are always performed in green, wooded places, near sources of water or near a tomb or shrine. Eating fresh spring plants, lamb's meat or lamb's liver is another custom of Hidrellez. It is believed that eating the first lamb of spring will bring health and cure the sick. It is also believed that picking flowers or plants in the countryside, boiling them and drinking the water will cure illnesses, and that the water rejuvenates and beautifies anyone who washes with it for 40 days.

On Hidrellez night, in the belief that Hizir will bring blessing and abundance to the places he visits and the things he touches, food bowls, pantries and purses are left open.

Those who want a house, vineyard or garden believe that Hizir will help them obtain such things if they make a small model of it.

Ceremonies to improve people's luck are called baht a~ma. On Hidrellez Eve, young girls who want to test their fortune and improve their luck gather in a green place or near water. They place some of their belongings, such as a ring, earring or bracelet in an jar and close the jar with fine muslin. They then set the jar at the foot of a rose-bush. Ear1y in the morning, they sit by the jar and drink coffee with milk, and pray that their peace and tranquility will not be spoiled. They then open the fortune jar. As they remove the objects from the jar, they recite verses or quatrains, and pronouncements are made regarding the luck of the owner of the object removed.

May 6 is regarded as the first day of spring by Christians as well. The Orthodox Christians celebrate this date as Hagia Georgi, and Catholics as St. George's Day.

• Remembrance of AtatOrk and Youth and Sports Day, May 19th The whole country stops for a moment at 9:05 a.m., November 10, the time of AtatOrk's death in 1938.

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (Alt, Turkish, South) . Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg. 12 • Victory Day, August 30th

• Republic Day, October 29th

• Seker/Ramazan Bayrami, The Feast After Ramazan, for three days It is a time for giving sweets and presents to children and friends and generally celebrates the end of fasting.

• Kurban Bayrami, Feast of Sacrifice, for four days - commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, on Mount Moriah In commemoration for Abraham's willingness, Turkish households that can afford a sheep, buy one, take it home and ritually slaughter it after the early morning prayers on Bayram. The meat is distributed amongst friends, family and charities.

Family and friends then prepare a feast. It is a major public holiday, and many shops and businesses close.

LITERATURE/CULTURE

• Folk Dances Folk dances are popular and vary according to region and location. They are engaged in during weddings, journeys to the mountain retreats in the summer, leave-taking of sons for military duty and celebrating religious and national holidays. o Horan This Black Sea dance is performed by men alone, dressed in black with silver trim. The dancers link arms and shake to the rhythm of the kemence, a simple violin. o Kasik Oyunu The Spoon Dance is performed by brightly dressed dancers of both sexes as they click out the rhythm on a pair of wooden spoons held in each hand. o Kilic Kalkan The Sword and Shield Dance of Bursa represents the Ottoman conquest of the city. It is performed by men alone, dressed in Ottoman battle dress, danced solely to the sound of clashing swords and shields. o Zeybek An Aegean dance, gaily dressed male dancers (ete) symbolize courage and heroism.

• Folk Music There are two types of folk music: the lively folk music from the Asian steppes and Ottoman classical music. Only recently has folk music been written down. Instead, the traditions were kept alive by asiklar, troubadours. Ottoman military music, performed by a mehter takimi in Istanbul, originated in Central Asia. It is played on kettle drums, clarinets, cymbals and bells. The mystical music of the whirling dervishes is dominated by the reed pipe or ney.

• Performing Arts There are five types of traditional performing arts: o Village Plays: in accordance with rural traditions on special days, weddings and holidays

o Meddah: a one-act dramatic play where the narrator plays the various characters in the play

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (Alt, Turkish, South) Turkey, BUlgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg. 13 o Karagoz: traditional show theatre where the shadows of human and animal figures are cut out of leather and coloured, then thrown onto a white curtain using a light source behind o Orta Oyun: resembles Karagoz, but is performed by real actors o Tu/uat Theater: a mix of Orta Oyun and western theatre • Visual arts According to strict Muslim laws that prohibit representation of any being "with an immortal sou/~ artists worked in non representative arts: illuminated Qu'rans, intricate jewelry, marbling, carpet-, enameled tilemaking, miniatures, tiligree, , marbling, gilding, repousse work (especially mother-of-pearl inlaying), wood , and costumes. AtatOrk's secularization of Turkey'S culture changed this as he encouraged representative painting, , literature, western music, dance and drama.

Under AtatOrk and his Latin-based Turkish alphabet, literacy was within reach of many more citizens and so, Ottoman courtly prose gave way to the vernacular. • Architecture o Justinian built St. Sophia (Hagi Sophie) in 537 CE, and it later became a mosque in 1453. Originally, its were plastered over as depictions of humans and animals are not allowed in Muslim houses of worship. In 1935, AtatOrk turned St. Sophia into a museum, and had the plaster removed. o Anatolia once laid claim to being the site of two of the seven wonders of the world: the temple of Diana at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus in Bodrum. It attracted visitors from afar until its destruction by Crusaders in 1522. • Cinema: Yilmaz GOney, Tunc, Basaran, ZOlfO, Omer Kavur • PhiiosopherslWritersIPoets: Nazim Hikmet, Yashar Kemal, Orhan Pamuk, Yunus Emre, Koroglu, Sultan Veled, Seyyad Hamza, Gulsehri, Ali Sir Navai, Yusuf Has Hacib, As,ykpas~a, GOls~ehri, Ahmedi and Kaygusuz Abdal, Smeyman Celebi, Hacy Bayram, Sultan Abdal, Kadri Efendi, AltanYaruk, Sekiz YOkarek, Huastunift Many traditional Turkish folk tales begin with a teker/erne (formula jingle). "A long, long time ago, when the sieve was inside the straw, when the donkey was the town crier, and the camel was the barber. . . Once there was; once there wasn't. God's creatures were as plentiful as grains, and talking too much was a sin. . ." The of Dede Korkut (14th century) is an epic of the Oghuz. Both Seljuks and the Ottomans were descendants of the Oghuz. It is comprised of a prologue with 12 legends. From beginning to end, they sing the praises of the Oghuz people, their nomadic way of life, their customs, and their values. The 12 units all share the same cast of characters, one of whom is the author himself, Dede Korkut. Composed of Tekke and Asik works of literary worth, they are often anonymous and passed down orally from generation to generation. They include epics, legends, folk poems, ballads, elegies, folk songs, riddles, folk tales, anecdotes, proverbs, expressions and rhymes.

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (Alt, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg. 14 OTHER • Mustafa Kemal Atatiirk (Father Turk), (1881 - 1938) "I look to the world with an open heart full ofpure feelings and friendship". Mustafa Kemal AtatOrk was the founder of the Turkish Republic, and her 'first President. A military hero at the Dardanelles in 1915, he became the charismatic leader of the Turkish national liberation struggle in 1919. He led his nation to full independence from occupying armies following World War I, establishing the modern Turkish Republic in 1923 from the ashes of the "sick man of Europe," the Ottoman Empire. For 15 years, AtatOrk worked tirelessly to introduce a broad range of swift and sweeping reforms to the political, social, legal, economic, and cultural arenas for which is remembered. AtatOrk curtailed the power of the religious authorities, introduced a modern civil code and transformed the people from a religious community into the Turkish nation. Religion and politics were segregated. He reformed the language, and replaced the Perso-Arabic script with the Latin one. Tributes have been offered to him by Lloyd George, Churchill, Roosevelt, Nehru, de Gaulle, Adenauer, Bourguiba, Nasser, Kennedy, and many others.

• Great Names o Alexander the Great cut the Gordian Knot near Ankara. o Alexander's tutor, Aristotle, founded the life sciences during his stay in Assos (Behramkale). o Aesop, narrator of animal fables, was an Anatolian. o Homers birthplace, Izmir (Smyrna), and the fabled city of Troy were located in Anatolia. o 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.

• Refuge Sultan Bayezit II dispatched the Ottoman Navy to rescue the Jewish people who were expelled from Spain. They were brought safely to Ottoman lands in 1492.

• Library Pergamum (Bodrum) was the site of one of the world's greatest libraries. It was said that Cleopatra had been devastated by the loss of the great library of Alexandria, and to assuage her grief, Anthony raided this library for to present her with.

• Name changes Troy (Truva), Ephesus (Selcuk), Pergamum (Bergama), Halicarnassus (Bodrum), Nicaea (Iznik), Sardis (Sart)

• City names Many city names in different parts of the world such as Philadelphia, Paris, Antioch, Troy or the continental name "Europe" originated in Anatolia.

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (Aft, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg. 15 • Garden o'f Eden 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), have their wellsprings in the mountains of eastern Turkey. • Beauty Contest The world's 'first beauty contest was held on Mount Ida (Kaz Dagi). The contestants were Aphrodite, Hera and Athena, under the judgment of Paris, the event that precipitated the siege and the fall of Troy. • Orient Express Istanbul houses the historical building of Sirkeci Train Station. It was the last stop of the Simplon­ Orient Express between Paris and Istanbul from 1883 to 1977. It has been the stuff of legends and intrigue and has been immortalized in Stamboul Train, by Graham Greene (1932), Murderon the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie (1934) and From Russia with Love, by Ian Fleming (1957). • Parchment When the Egyptians prohibited the export of papyrus, the King of Pergamum ordered that a new material be found. The new discovery was ''parchment'', a fine material from sheep or goat skin. The name, Pergamum, was seen as synonymous with the word ''parchment''. • Evil eye The evil eye is an object of envy. Blue glass eye amulets are used to supposedly absorb the evil eye. They hang on car mirrors, around necks and key chains; they are hung on almost anything. Many other cultures also believe in this superstition and references can be found in the Old Testament and the Qu'ran. The earliest references to the evil eye are in Sumerian clay tablets, circa 3000 BCE from Iraq. • Folk Heroes o Nasrettin Hoes A 13th-century humourist and sage from Aksehir, Nasretfin Hoea, is also known as a wise fool. His stories have been translated arid shared throughout the Middle East and Spanish-speaking countries. o Santa Claus St. Nicholas was born in the town of Patara in 245 CEo When he was young, his father died and left Nicholas a great fortune. Nicholas anonymously started giving the money to the needy, especially children. He was also known for dropping bags of coins down the chimneys of girls in the town who were without a dowry.

Nicholas eventually became the Bishop of Myra (Demre), where he performed several miracles, including saving sailors from drowning and resurrecting three boys who had been killed by an evil butcher. Today, St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children, sailors, teachers, students and merchants.

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (Alt, Turkish, South) Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg. 16 SOURCES/SUGGESTED REFERENCES films: o Murder on the Orient Express o Midnight Express o YOI books: Turkey Akademia Ltd., 1991

Turkey Office of the Prime Minister Directorate General of Press and Information 1993

Hacaoglu, Selcan Turkey is up to its eyeballs... Toronto Star December 16, 2000

Hall, Gerry Treasure House of the Ages Toronto Star June 7, 1997

Halman, T.S. Turkish Verbs Barron's Educational Series, Inc.

Rona, B. Turkish Hugo's Language Books Ltd., 1989

WEBSITES • bjk1903.com/cyberport • ciaworldbook.com • countrywatch.com • ethnologue.com • gazi.edu.tr • hitit.co.uklCuItTk • Imp.ucla.edu • krysstal.com • lonely planet.com • turkey.org • turkishculture.org • turkishodyssey.ocm • turkishpress.ocm • unesco.com Linguistic/Cultural "ambassadors": Sedef Ozkin, Dr. Erhan Berber, Hale Dincer and EnginOzkin

8th century, alphabetic Turkish (AIt, Turkish, South) Turkey, BUlgaria, Iran, Cyprus Pg. 17