Out of Istanbul

Tonight Luke, Alex and I are leaving Istanbul. I enjoyed my time in the city, not least because our host, Onur, was flat-out amazing.

Conventinal wisdom dictates that Istanbul, and Turkey in general, sits on the nexus between East and West. As such, it is part European and part Middle Eastern. The image of European-style trams weaving their way through minarets spiking into the sky comes to mind.

But surely a city which has been the throne of both the Roman Empire and the Islamic Caliphate defies such an easy categorization.

I recall reading that former Secretary of State James Baker once warned the countries of Central Asia after their independence from the Soviet Union that they follow the path of Turkey, not Iran.

He assumed that all Muslim-majority countries are more common than different, namely, that they are fundamentally Islamic. He was wrong: the states of Central Asia followed neither path, instead retaining (for the most part) their Soviet systems of government.

It is also naıve to think that Muslim-majority countries can simply imitate Turkey, because Turkey is not simply a Muslim-majority country.

For one, Turkey is ethnically and linguistically more like Azerbaijan and Central Asia than its immediate neighbors. Pan-Turkic ideas may have fallen out of favor, but during the recent unrest by Uyghurs (ethnic Turks) in China, Turkey's prime minister accused the Chinese government of genocide.

I don't think Turkey is essentially European, Middle Eastern, or even a simple combination of the two. It is Turkey, a country with its own unique history, politics, ethnic mixture, and language-- not simply a hodgepodge of its immediate neighbors.


Anyway, tonight we are leaving for Kayseri, in Cappadocia. It is an eighteen hour ride, but the price (seven USD) is right. I'll update more when we arrive.