Eastern Turkey, “another world” inside the Turkey of Istanbul and package holiday resorts, is an area travellers are beginning to stand up and take notice of. And if Joanna Lumley is planning a visit, it must be worthy of exploration.
This is the message of Bradt guide author Diana Darke, who said during a talk at Stanfords that more interest is being generated in this part of the world that’s long been neglected by travellers, in part thanks to laying claim to being the birthplace of religion.
“It’s astonishing what’s happened there over the last 20 years – Eastern Turkey has really lifted itself up, which is testament to the country’s stability,” Diana explained. “Turkey’s economy has steadily grown, so it’s got money to invest into tourism. This is something you really notice with the food, for example, which was nothing to write home about two decades ago. Now it’s possible to try gourmet dishes at restaurants at the top of Mesopotamia in the desert – all of which are made locally. It’s certainly not the place it used to be.”
But what about safety in a region that hasn’t enjoyed the most peaceful of reputations? “If you look at Foreign Office travel advice it starts off by describing Turkey as a stable democracy,” the travel author said. “The only areas it says you shouldn’t travel to are a handful of provinces where, in all honesty, no tourists would go anyway because there’s absolutely nothing to see there.”
What’s exciting is just how much there is to see, which is why a national newspaper is planning to run a special Eastern Turkey feature in the coming weeks, and why Lumley and her film crew are travelling there to make a documentary on Mount Ararat and its associations with the story of Noah’s Ark.
“That will bring a lot of interest to this part of the world,” Diana added. “We all know Istanbul and the holiday resorts – that’s what most people think of when you say ‘I’m going to Turkey’, but in practice 70 per cent of the country is from Ankara eastwards – it’s like a country within a country, which is why it merits an entire book.
“It’s effectively another world – one that most people in Istanbul and the western part of the country haven’t been to, let alone travellers from overseas. Indeed, some Turkish people freely admit they think of it as another country. What people discover when they do go there though is that it’s incredibly easy to travel around, the people are friendly and that there’s so much to discover.”
One of Eastern Turkey’s highlights is Lake Van, the country’s largest body of water and among the biggest endoheric lakes in the world. A saline soda lake, it receives water from the many small streams descending from nearby mountains – and despite sub-zero temperatures in winter, its saltiness means the vast majority of water doesn’t freeze.
“It’s an extraordinary, surreal lake,” Diana said. “It has an almost ethereal quality to it – there’s something about the colour of the water and its texture, which feels like silk. When you swim in it your skin is so smooth and silky. The water has a particular alkaline composition to it, so fishing boats often trail dirty laundry behind them and the lake acts as a huge washing machine, making the clothes fragrant and soft.
“Lake Van is huge – seven times the size of Lake Geneva, but no matter where you are on the lake you experience its extraordinary quality. The surrounding area is completely undeveloped – there are only two hotels on its shores, one in the north and one in the south.”
While the lake is spectacular in itself, it’s surrounded by a ring of volcanoes, some of which can be conquered on one-day expeditions. Diana has trekked to the summit of Nemrut – not to be confused with the mountain of the same name – to the north-west of the lake. At its summit is a large caldera and two crater lakes – one hot and one cold, and it’s possible to swim in both.
Aside from its impressive landscape, Eastern Turkey has a fascinating cultural history. And according to Diana, the Anatolia region contains “the origins of so much of our western civilization”, despite the fact that many won’t have heard of its ancient peoples.
“Eastern Turkey is the great early mountain culture, where the Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamia are the acknowledged first great river valley cultures,” Diana explained. “It’s a little-known fact that Hittite is the earliest-known example of an Indo-European language, from which a number of our languages have descended from.
“The region is home to some extraordinary cultures, most of which we are probably unfamiliar with like the Commagene Dynasty, whose power-crazed King Antiochus I Theos built a sanctuary at the summit of Mount Nemrut, the highest peak in his kingdom at 2,000 metres. It’s unlike anything else in any other part of the world, and the king’s statue, which he made sure was surrounded by gods, often gets chosen for front covers of Eastern Turkey travel guides.”
Another cultural highlight is Gobekli Tepe, where German and Turkish archaeologists have been excavating since 1994. “It dates from 9,000 BC, making it the world’s oldest temple, established 2,000 years earlier than the world’s first city,” Diana said.
“This is completely turning everything upside down about how we thought human society evolved. We understood that hunter gatherers settled in cities and then built temples – what Gobekli Tepe shows is that hunter gatherers built a place to worship before moving to the city. It’s safe to say that religion began in Eastern Turkey. Even today, there are more churches and monasteries there than there are in Istanbul and the western part of the country.”
Diana Darke was speaking on behalf of Travel the Unknown, which is based at our Long Acre store’s themed area for the duration of November. Find out more about their talks by visiting our events page.
Venetia Rainey spent a week getting to know the Minangkabau people, an indigenous group based in the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, Indonesia.
