James Villers Jr.

This is a collection of some 31 first-person accounts of travel in contemporary Turkey by almost as many writers. There is a good deal of variety as the stories are in turn inspiring, sentimental, funny, frightening, spiritual, long, short, upbeat, dark, suspenseful, and matter of fact. They are written by women and men, Americans, Brits, and Australians, globe-trotting travel writers and old Turkey hands. We see glimpses of Istanbul as well as almost every corner of Turkey. They are unfailingly well-written and engaging.

Taken as a whole they begin to sketch a portrait of an exceedingly complex place and people. The home of several ancient civilizations, Turkey was the center of three empires – Pagan (Roman), Christian (Byzantine) and Muslim (Ottoman). Turkey only made the transition to a western-style nation less than a century ago. (Not always to the benefit of its minorities. Nations seem to require a great deal more homogeneity than empires and Armenians and Kurds have fared badly in the new Turkey.) Now each Turk has to find his/her own way of reconciling Islamic culture and religion with an (until recently) aggressively secular government. Each tale adds a piece to the puzzle. If, by the end, we don’t have a thorough understanding of Turkey, we at least have the clear sense that here is a place full of richness and contradictions that cannot be easily pigeonholed.

The map of Turkey on the opening pages is very useful. I would have liked some large-scale maps as well – particularly of Istanbul, the Aegean coast and eastern Turkey.… (lisätietoja)