Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
h ey leave the rebar exposed until they have another hundred bucks, so they
make another wall, put on a window, frame in another door...and add more
rebar. Now, when I look at that rusty rebar, I remember that Turks say,
“Rebar holds the family together”...and it becomes much prettier.
At the edge of Güzelyurt, I came upon a little boy playing a l ute. Just
like in biblical times, it was carved out of an eagle bone. I listened. And I
heard another eagle-bone l ute, out of sight, coming from over the hill, where
his dad was tending the sheep. As they have for centuries, the boy stays with
the mom and plays the eagle-bone l ute. h e dad tends the l ock and plays
his l ute, too, so the entire family knows that all is well.
I hiked up the shepherd's hill and sat overlooking the town. On a
higher hill, just beyond the simple tin roof of its mosque, I saw the
letters G Ü Z E L Y U R T spelled out in rocks. Listening to the timeless
sounds of the community, I thought how there are countless Güzel-
yurts, scattered across every country on earth. Each is humble, yet i lled
with rich traditions, proud people, and its own village-centric view of
our world. Güzelyurt means “beautiful land.” While few visitors would
consider it particularly beautiful, that's how the people who call it home
see it. They'd live nowhere else. And for them, it truly is a
güzel yurt.
Defending the Separation of Mosque and State...for Now
When visiting eastern Turkey, you don't have a list of sights. It's a cultural
scavenger hunt. Years ago, I was exploring with a tour group and we saw
300 kids in a stadium. We dropped in to see what was going on. h ey were
thrusting their i sts into the air, screaming in unison, “We are a secular nation!
We are a secular nation!” I asked my local guide, “What's going on? Don't
they like God?” She said, “Yes, we love God here in Turkey, but—with the
rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism just over the border in Iran—we are
very concerned about the fragile and precious separation of mosque and
state in our country.” I was surprised to learn that their hard-won constitu-
tion actually requires that the military overthrow the government if it ever
becomes a theocracy.
Turkey still is a secular nation. But lately, with each election, the line
between mosque and state gets a little more blurred. Turkey, like so much
of today's world, is in a tug-of-war between secular forces and right-wing
fundamentalism. And, just as in other Islamic lands, Turkish fundamentalist
groups use fear of perceived American meddling to win public support. With
