© Copyright photo (1975 Didyma) and text by Levent Ağaoğlu
The only rectangular peninsula on the earth’s surface is the Turkish Peninsula. As a result, all roads point to Turkey like a compass from all directions. Those who migrated, fought, and were in trouble always saw the Turkish Peninsula as a place to take shelter. Of course, there are geographical advantages brought by being a peninsula rather than an island. The people of the island are always troubled (as in the islands of Japan and England) and they develop a closed society structure.
However, people in the peninsula of Turkey go and come. In this way, a clear sociological structure that is open to the world has manifested itself in these lands.
Countless people come from the north, south, east and west. Phrygians came from the Balkans from the west, the Hittites, the Hattians from the northern steppes, the Persians from the Iranians from the east, the Ionians, the Greeks, the Jews from the west, the Arabs from the south, and the Turks from all directions came to this peninsula, the Turkish peninsula, settled down and formed the invaluable and diversified human resource.
The peninsula coasts are indented, the genes are curly, genes from all the people of the world are in question here.
While, The People’s Republic of China boasts a 5000-year history of civilization and propagates it in its official documents. Uyghur Turks also express their feelings and thoughts by saying “these Chinese probably forgot their civilization in their kitchen”.
Turkey, on the other hand, is witnessing a 12,000-year-old civilization history with the Göbeklitepe and Karahantepe excavations recently, we live in the territory of a country with an open treasure. However, the Minister of Culture and Tourism mentions 12 hills, and that the propaganda of 12 similar hills around Urfa will be made as “12 hills in Mesopotamia”.
However, what should be emphasized here should be the dimension of time, not space.
What needs to be done is obvious; to promote Turkey in the world markets with a slogan titled “12,000 years of Turkish civilization” and an accompanying logo. If this is not done, why is it not done, we should ask this question as well.
China is proud of its 5000-year-old history, that China is based only on the Chinese, and China is not meaningful outside of its geography today, there is a Chinese presence there only because of the Chinese who migrated to the southeast in ancient times. However, whether in America or western Europe, the Chinese live in separate neighborhoods in the China Town ghettos, they have no interaction with the society they live in. In their investments in Africa, they employ only Chinese workers there.
Turkey, on the other hand, represents humanity, and what we call Turk is already Adam. There have been people coming from all directions to the geography of Turkey from the north, west, east and south, and these people have mingled and mixed with each other in the Turkish Peninsula, and Turkey has become a country of languages and religions.
Christianity, Islam and Judaism found their true meaning, power and strength in these lands, in the geography of Turkey. Previously, Christians practiced their religious beliefs by hiding in underground caves in Cappadocia, this is the years when Christianity was first born, then Jews exiled from Spain in 1492 at the end of the 15th century took refuge in Turkey. Turks exiled from the Balkans in 1912 and Muslims exiled from Syria in the 2011 Syrian war came and took refuge in Turkey.
It is humanity and deep civilisation that Turkey represents.