Hi!  I'm so glad to have found this group, and I totally enjoyed the postings under the topic "Did you know...?"  I hope that you will continue to have postings in English.

I spent four years of my childhood in Ankara (1961-1965) and learned to speak the language fluently - often acting as interpreter for my parents.  Unfortunately, once we returned to the US, we never spoke again in Turkish, so I forgot the language.

I have many, many wonderful memories of people and places in Ankara.  I left much of my heart there, and would be blessed to be able to return at some point in my life.  My childhood in Turkey laid the foundation for the way I see the world and it's peoples - and I am so very grateful for that!

I look forward to getting to know the people in this group!

Many blessings!

Cynthia  

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

hi...welcome to the group....hope you enjoy it, but these days it's a bit quiet.

you must have so many interesting memories and we'd love to hear them....guess you parents were working for the embassy or the NATO base...

maybe we could find some friends of yours....who knows?

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

welcome Cynthia...I think many of us are just involved in work and are to busy to post here(including myself)..I hope we can post more often the next time so you can feel like in Turkey( and I myself, too )..and maybe you can learn turkish again? I think the second time it won`t take long...

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Thank you to both of you! 

My father was in the Air Force, and stationed in Ankara.  We lived on what we called Embassy Row (not on the base), and my playmates were from all over the world.

I think that I was very lucky in that my parents did not isolate us from the Turkish people or culture.  This was in the early 60's, and there was no television there yet, so we spent a lot of time outdoors and exploring. 

I don't know if it's just an example of how our memories can take on a golden quality, or if my memories are factual in this - but it seems that everyone I met had a way of making me feel cherished as a child.  A different experience that the one here in the States.  Whether at the park, in the old part of the city, or at the bazaars - I never felt anything but acceptance and kindness. 

During my first year of college (at the age of 46!), I wrote an essay for my writing class about some of my experiences in Ankara (yes- I earned an "A").  If I can find it, I'll share it.  I also gave a presentation last spring about the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, for which I did hours of research - enjoying every minute!

Okay, I'm out of time for now, and my 15 year old son is demanding my attention! 

Many blessings!

Cynthia

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Welcome Cynthia!!!

Thank you for finding us, and joining the group. Hope you will return back to your memories of Ankara here...

I, as the co-host, will try to spend more time sending posts to the group so maybe with all other members we can liven up this space again....

Senem

 [ send green star]

Cynthia's title reminded me to remind everybody about our rule of language use...

Please, post Turkish messages under Turkish titles and under English titles post only in English.

It will be more readable to our members that do not know either English or Turkish...

 [ send green star]

It's been a long time since I posted, but I just came across two papers from when I was attending college a couple of years ago.

The first was a speech and presentation that I made about the Blue Mosque in Istanbul - complete with overhead transparencies of the exterior of the Mosque and the beautiful tilework inside.  I chose the topic because I wanted to counter some of the negativity that I sensed in others about the Muslim world.  I wanted to help expand the knowledge base of my classmates and share just part of the beauty that exists.

The other document was one of my very first essays, and was about my experiences living in Ankara as a child both before and during a revolution (1963, 1964??) there. 

If I have time, and there is any interest, I can share both in this group...

Many blessings!

Cynthia H

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Lol - ASAP would be nice.  Probably next week though - my apologies!  Super busy right now, but next week starts winter break for my kids, and my work hours will be less - so I'll have more time.

Your interest makes me happy!  I'm hoping that I'll be able to scan the visual aids that I used for my speech/presentation about the Blue Mosque (oh, how I would love to visit Istanbul - it's one of my dreams!!).

Until next week....

Blessings!

Cynthia

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

I am wondering if anyone in the group has a recipe for borek that they'd be willing to share?  My mom's 74th birthday is this month, and she's craving borek.  I'd love to be able to surprise her...

I'll share a story that my mom tells about a trip we once made to the bazaar in Ankara.  My mom wasn't fluent in the Turkish language, so usually took me with her on shopping trips, etc. 

We stopped a stall where fruit was being sold, and I got distracted by something.  So my mom turned to the vendor, pointed to the fruit she was interested in buying, and said "Peach, peach!"  The vendor started yelling, calling my mom an infidel & using colorful language that I'd never heard before!  By the time I had calmed things down (I was around 6 years old at the time), I had learned my first swear word in Turkish - what I was told was that "peach" meant "bastard"; so the poor gentleman thought that my mother was being extremely disrespectful...My mom was totally mortified then, but the story has become part of our family history!! 

Cynthia

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

you mean this..

http://www.turkishcookbook.com/2005/04/borek.php

and for the others

http://www.turkish.homestead.com/

http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=turkish

http://www.turkishcook.com/

http://www.bigglook.com/biggmenueng/tarifler.asp

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Kaiser - this is wonderful!  I'll be able to surprise my mom with Borek next week, treat myself, and share a memory with my kids as well.  Thank you!

I'll check through some of the links you gave, because now I am on the hunt for a recipe for manti as well.  It sounds very similar to an Afghani dish that my ex-husbands Aunt used to make for me - called aushak.

Blessings!

Cynthia

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Cynthia it was a pleasure...i'd be happy if you find what you asked for... Manti is one of my fav too.

Merry Xmas and a happy new year to you!

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Hi/ Merhaba

Sorry for taking so much time to introduce myself. My name is Melanie. I have never been to Turkey nor do I know myself Turkish origins but Turkey always fascinated me. Both for its history, culture and for through history, it has been a gateway between cultures and religions and for I feel a strong connexion to Turkey in ways that I cannot explain.It is just like my soul belongs there.

Since childhood, I had very strong visions of a city named Lykastia and later I have done many researches to find information on this city and everything I got was that Lykastia, according to many Greek and Roman sources was one of the 3 major cities of the Amazons on the shores of the Thermodon ( present day Terme Cay)

I even spoke to Gerhard Poellauer, an archaeologist doing researches in that region and investigating the existence of the Amazon Nation, shared him of my dreams and described him Lykastia as I saw it in my vision. He told me that the landscape I described corresponds to Tekkekoy, which he believes to be the location of the ancient city of Lykastia and he sent me the picture of a fortress taken in Tekkekoy. Although it is in ruins, I recognized it as the fortress I saw in my dreams since I was a child.

He also told me that I looked like the natives of the region. I have been told all my life that the Amazon Nation was a myth. I cannot explain what I am living for my dreams are too clear and strong to only be dreams. These visions are leaving me wandering who I am, could I be a descendant of the nation known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as the Amazons. Or am I nuts. Or is there in mythology a part of truth and the Amazon myth be based on Mother Goddess worshipping tribes where women had a status as priestesses, warriors and leaders, there certainly is a part of truth.

While seeking an answer to my soul's longings and this part of my identity that is a mystery, I want to know Turkey in all of its aspects, cultures, history and present

I want to visit Tekkekoy, Karpu Kale, Terme,Asar Kale and Giresun Adasi, to find answers and a home for my soul, then Turkey from the west to the East, from Izmir and Ephesus to the edge of Georgia and go to Istambul and Ankara. It is a dream that I want to realize at least once in my lifetime.

Nice to meet you/Memnum oldun

Melanie

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

hi melanie...this is an interesting story. actually i've heard about the amazonian women who lived in that area some thousand years ago but that'a all i know. I'll try to gether more info if i can find...for the moment i can say is there is a festival in Terme and Golyazı region in 28-30 august every year about amazonian people.

there is no particular definition for "Turkish"..i mean, not all turks have black hair and dark skin. we are totally a multi-raced country. I've friends who look like japanese, african or even swedish. 

 [ send green star]  [ accepted]

Wow, thank you for the information Kaiser and for your support.I did not know about the festival in Terme. The more I have heard is that women are still gathering in Giresun Adasi and performing pre-Islamic rites around the stone of Hamza.

I do not know at all what I am living since childhood, it took me years to realize that I was not alone. Not the only one to feel strong bonds and being callen to a nation that most people believe to be only myth as if it was my culture, my Nation, my roots.Not the only one to feel in my heart and soul that the Amazon Nation truly existed and that Themiskyra is not a myth.

During a meditation, I have received a symbol, a dove shaped shield with at its center the symbol of a snake coiling around a labrys ( double axe) and at the right, a wolf howling at the waxing Moon. It clearly is an Amazon symbol, as for why I received it and its origins I have no clue.

I have had very weird dreams, that are so vivid that they seem to be memories. That the highest sanctuary of Asar Kale was used as a fortress and that it was accessible by an underground passage leading to a secret room carved inside the mountain and that exited deep into the woods, that the stone pillars were used to dodge enemy arrows and that down the sanctuary, inside the mountain was an underground chamber that was used to stock supplies in times of seige and that if the sanctuary was at risk of being taken, two lines of oil were being set at the front entrance, stopping the enemies from taking the sanctuary and safeguarding escape into the woods by the other exit.

I also remember a temple on the other side of Lykastia's fortress, on the other side of the river. There was a pathway made of blue and white mosaics that represented Artemis leading to the temple, surrounded by bushes of laurels and of a camellia-like flower that was callen kharissa. Inside the temple was a statue of Artemis and the floor was covered with 6 mosaics in tones of red that showed different representations of Artemis. Close to the temple was the pond of Damari, where, according to my visions the Amazons made offerings and did purification baths before rituals. And according to them, the last Khiani ( Queen) of Lykastia has been buried under the temple's ruins. The Thermodontine Nation survived till the end of the 3rd Mithridatic War, where the last Amazon stronghold( in my vision it was callen Ladiranya Kerb'ah/Ladiran and I believe that the ruins of Karpu Kale are the ruins of the stronghold city of Ladiran) was conquered by the legions of Pompey and the last Thermodontine queen resisting to Roman rule defeated in the fall of 66 or 65 BC

These memories are so strong that I don't know if they are dreams, past life memories or ancestral remembrance. The images of the Roman conquest of the Thermodon haunt me since I was a little child, too young to understand them. Deep in my soul I know that they are not dreams but I am even more lost when I believe in them. Wandering who I am , the ordinary Canadian born woman raised in a typical North American family I thought I was or a descendant of the Amazons who may be related to the last queen of Lykastia. These memories so hurt, for my soul longs for a home that for most people don't even exist out of mythological tales. I so often wished to live just a normal life. Or at least my visions proven to be true. For because of them many people think I'm nuts, many people think I'm a " fluffybunny" and many historians I spoke to said " Do you have any references to prove what you say" And I have none, nothing but my visions .

It seems that only by visiting Terme, Asar Kale, Tekkekoy, Karpu Kale and Giresun Adasi I will find home, answers and peace

Again tessekur ederim for your help

Melanie

 [ send green star]  [ accepted]

those are really detailed visions...and i agree that to visit the places would be the best thing to do

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Thanks for inviting me to this group Kaiser.

I've along term love affair with this country I now call home. My family joke that I fell in love with the country long before I fell in love with the man...and my husband actually agrees.

I've enjoyed reading the posts too, and once I get my act together and find my round the site a bit easier will start posting some stuff I have written about the country.

Magi

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

Hi or greetings to you all, My name is Jennifer I live in Perth, Western Australia, and interested in how people think and live in different cultures and customs which is why I joined the group.  I grew up in a disfunctional family life,  which is an ongoing process of healing from depression, and anxiety.   I am a Christian but won't be bible bashing alright.  I would like simply have contact with people from other cultures and customs and I guess their religion to in some ways.   I have asked myself what culture do we have in Australia,  and what does culture mean as well as customs too?  So many of us here seem to be devoid of it which is maybe why so many drink alcohol, have so called booze parties, etc.   I think that has become an aussie custom I think.  Money that is spent on alcohol which could be spent on well deserving endeavours, but I guess that is my opinion too.  And everyone has a right to do with what they earn as they like.   But I find it hard to accept when it is spend on things that are for such self perpose things like operations for enhancing the body and face.  That is just the one thing I don't like, but there is nothing I can do about it. Thank you for listen to me.

Jennifer

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

This group is great! I have always had a love for other cultures and people, and Turkey is one of those countries that has really stood out in my mind. I hope that someday I will be fortunate enough to fulfill my dream of visiting the country myself. Thanks for creating this!

~Steven 

 [ send green star]

 [ accepted]

I am married and living in Ankara therefore I joined this group

 [ accepted]