Turkish Delight

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I spent three weeks touring through Turkey from the 24th of August in to the first two weeks of Ramadan (staring Sept 2nd this year) and then flew to Rome

Turkey is a beautiful country and the people are incredibly friendly, even after they find out you’re American. It's widely report in the media that Turkish people really don’t like America. "In June 2007, the Pew Research Center polled citizens of 47 countries on their attitude toward the US. Turkey turned up at rock bottom, with 83% of respondents holding an unfavorable view of the United States and only 9% of Turks expressing a favorable view...", Asia Times Oct 23,2007. And it is true that often in the last decade the best selling books and the most popular domestic films are usually of the America is Satan genre. You probably don’t find this surprising, but if I was then to tell you that since 1980 Turkey has been one of the largest recipient of American foreign aid (close to $60 billion) , you might find it odd. You might even start to think along the lines of, “wow after all that aid why is America is Satan the best selling genre?” Hint, most of the aid, in excess of 90% say, was in the form of military aid. Build a man a schools for his kids and he’ll probably like you, gives his oppressive government a bunch of tanks and weapons…well…yeah you get the picture. I've never been quite trusting of these "the world hates America polls" because the opposite just doesn’t sell papers and they never really give you the poll specifics- polling size or actual questions asked. As I stated earlier, I found the Turkish people be very friendly and generous. Let’s face it though the Turks wouldn’t be the first country to dislike America foreign policy but like Americans. As to why exactly Turks currently dislike America so much I can only offer the two attached articles for possibilities:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ23Ak01.html

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ23Ak01.html

My trip through Turkey though was quite enjoyable. I started with my guide Tolun Cerkes in Istanbul and from there we drove east following the Black sea coast all the way to the Georgian border, we then headed south down to the Armenian border, and eventually west back to Istanbul where we hung a left and proceeded down the coast of the Aegean through Gallipoli, Izmir and Ephesus eventually arriving in Bodrum.

Most of the early photos are of old Georgian churches or castles along the Black Sea coast built from 1000-1250ish. The next bunch of photos is from the ghost town of Ani which is on the Armenian border, and then the ruins of Izmir, Troy, and Bergama along the Aegean.

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Photos

Sumela Monastry
Built in the 13th century the monastry is carved high into the side of a cliff accessible and is only by a narrow a staircase. The monastry contains some stunning frescos

"Death to America!!!"
This was a very nice shy boy. His parents ran a little tea stand market at the edge of a nature reserve.

I slept here!
Small pension in east Turkey

David's Castle
Georgian Castle from the 11th century

Comments

[mahsun supertitiz]

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just to clear up couple of things. The foremost reason why the Turks hate America is the American support for the PKK terrorists who have murdered more than 30,000 of people in Turkey. It`s well documented that America supplies these terrorists with weapons. The second reason is America`s illegal occupation in Iraq, the genocide of Iraqis, and its fascist war (Bush calls this crusade) on Islam. Btw, do you call loans financial aid in America? what 60 billion dollars of aid is this?