The trump card of Turkish tourism: Archeology  

”Archaeology; Perhaps Turkey’s greatest trump card, its greatest privilege, as it strives to make itself known to the world, to say something new and to earn money…”

Many excavations are sponsored by famous local and foreign institutions. Like

Philip Morris/Sabancı, Hewlett Packard . Support came from all segments of society, as well as archaeologists and scientists, for the rescue of

Zeugma .

We should once again pay homage to Ekrem Akurgal , who made us love archeology and taught us its importance with his works and excavations . We all got the Aegean love and passion from him. I should also mention the efforts of the

late Jale Inan . Jale Inan ‘s wife, Mustafa Inan, was also an important scientist, and Oguz Atay wrote about the life of this valuable teacher in A Scientist’s Novel .

Even though it is a scientific endeavor, I believe that movies and novels have a primary effect on the rise of archeology in the interests of society. Beyond the scientific curiosity lies the books of

Indiana Jones , The Mummy , and Christian Jacq , fueling a sense of excitement and adventure.

Ahmet Ümit ‘s PatasanaThe other is a murder novel written in an environment where archaeological excavations take place. Successful too.

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Archaeologists from 10-15 countries are participating in the ÇATALHÖYÜK excavation.

The excavation of Allianoi, which will remain under the Yortanlı Dam , continues.

Journalists participate in these excavations and go and see them. An album on

Hasankeyf has been released. A foreword by Swedish Consul General Sture Theolin , a review by Genesis Arık and photographs by Marco Plüss introduce us in detail to this city that will be flooded in the future.

Archeology is no longer confined to the narrow circle of archaeologists, within the walls of the university.

An archaeologist friend of mine gave the following answer to the question of why they do not reach a novel or a script in Turkey.

Only scientific excavation reports are published, no material or comment is presented to narrate it.

When you consider the abundance of sources about Egypt, we can understand the scarcity of publications.

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IN THE JOURNAL; Read an interview with James Mellaart , who first won Çatalhöyük . He offers an example of advice:

“Choose the actual excavators from the local people, not your students! Because they know what is what.