The Turkish Tableau

We quickly learned that Turkey is a meshing of many different cultures pulled together by all being under Ottoman rule for centuries.  Each corner of Turkey borders a different culture and each corner of Turkey has a different culture.  From the European and Greek way of the Mediterranean bordering sections to the conservative Iraq bordering sections, Istanbul was a mixture of religious and secular, conservative and liberal, and old and new.  While Istanbul was more on the conservative side in terms of dress, not everyone we met agreed with that ethos nor was everyone we met a religious Muslim.  The legacy of Ataturk, the leader who in the early part of the 1900s united Turkey as an independent country and set all of today’s progressive laws and secular government into action, is very strong.  People seem to revere his secular and liberal ideas, making Turkey a very accepting place.  It is little wonder that Israelis traveled so heavily prior to the Gaza war in Turkey.  Turkish people expressed pride that there were Christians and Jews living in the country.  In fact, after their expulsion from Spain in the 1400s, Jews were invited to come to Turkey to eventually attain very high positions in business and government during the Muslim Ottoman Empire.  Strange as it might seem today, a century ago Jews were sewing the crescent moon and star on to their religious items right beside the Star of David out of national pride.  Even the Turkish language shares roots with central Asia and not Arabic.  The character of this modern country is a complex mixture of spices more varied than could even have been found in Istanbul’s spice market that come together to make a flavorful travel meal (with unlimited free bread).