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This is your Briefing Page for TURKEY.  To help get you started, and to set the scene, below are descriptions of the destination as written in my fiction or non-fiction books.  These outtakes are to help you learn about the location, prep for your travels and drive up your excitement about a specific place.

After the quotes, you’ll find a brief overview of the destination with my comments and guidance for globally-thinking entrepreneurs.  These destination pages are being continuously updated so please check back before each trip.

 

TURKEY

Istanbul

 

…across the Anatolian plains before descending down into Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city…to stand at the base of the Obelisk of Theodosius in Sultanahmet Square…

At this spot in this splendid city, we were within the gleaming shadow of the Hagia Sophia, a building called holy wisdom or Ayasofya in Turkish. “This is an amazing city to visit.”  We began to walk away from the square and into the nearby streets. “The Turkish people are the living embodiment of Europeans and Asians protecting a modern Muslim reality and a Christian past. Hagia Sophia was a cathedral for nearly a thousand years, then a mosque, now it’s a museum….

…this is Turkey, the base of the Ottomans, their empire stretched from Algiers back to Baku, and lasted over six hundred years through to the last century…The cultural treasures here are magnificent; the timeless reflection of dedicated artwork is on display over and over again. Given this strategic location and its resources, the Turkish people have had to know and endure everyone, coming and going, marching across their lands and over them to claim and connect Asia and Europe. The force of armies determined the outcome. ..

Walking on the streets of Istanbul at the smooth pacing of its ancient people, inviting and relaxed, we noted their enjoyment of thick, rich coffee at the cafes and stands along the way…

I turned instead to the scenery around us as we traversed the magnificent historical sites of modern Istanbul. Having walked across the esplanade of the paved over Hippodrome to the Blue Mosque, we were now on the banks of the Bosporus River. Following the walls around the Topkapi Palace museum, we watched the teeming life of sailing vessels cross from one continent to another, through and onto the Golden Horn as the folded paper edges of the city’s foundation held it together at this visual point….

The walls of Sűleymaniye mosque arose before us, but we stood only to admire the exterior of this stunning building before walking slowly, very slowly back full circle to enter the palace museum of Topkapi. This time I was grateful as we went inside to see the protected treasures and luxurious accommodations of the sultans. I had hoped that we would take the extra time…we lingered in Istanbul, the city prompts one to do that. We let evening fall on its patient heads, we watched the never ending traffic on the Bosporus onto the Sea of Marmara.

– Describing Istanbul in Walking with J by Karsten Quarters

 

The crossroads of the world is a land bridge continuously inhabited for 50,000 years. The Anatolian peninsula is at the center of civilization, linking the western and eastern continents over the Mediterranean, the Aegean and the Black Seas. The 300,000 square miles starting and ending Eurasia had been home to Greeks, Thracians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Mongols and Ottomans, until Turkification settled the people into a united definition of their culture.

From the rising plateaus, flat coastal plains and rolling hills leading into mountains, empire building began with the Hittites, and ended with republican democracy 4,000 years later. With its cathedrals and mosques, nearly a thousand years of Eastern Christian Orthodoxy has held on while Islam swept the region to dominate the residents’ beliefs.

On its modern borders, eight other states formed from the waves of war and displacement locked geographic arms across the region. A thousand miles long, and five hundred miles wide, within its reach the most intrepid of determined invaders could find a place to hide into which a million searching eyes could not see.

– Describing Turkey in The Probable Cause: A Future Tech Cyber Thriller by Case Lane

BRIEF OVERVIEW

 

Place: At the center of the old world, home of the Ottoman Empire, seat of Eastern Orthodox religion, the land bridge between Europe and Asia

Visited: Twice

Most Recent Visit: 2016

Original sites: High

Familiarity: High

English usage: Scattered

Surprise:  Unable to figure out how to pay to ride the metro in Izmir, locals (strangers) not once but twice, in two different stations, swiped their metro card for me and would not accept my cash in payment.

For Rising Entrepreneurs in Business: Absolutely include Turkey in your planning.  The battle to bring the country into the European Union will be settled by the reality of living in a global inter-connected world.  The Turkish people are already integrated and ready.

Country Details:  U.N. Country Data Stats for Turkey

Reading Recommendations (click the book cover to learn more)

 

Want more details about visiting Turkey: contactcase(at)readyentrepreneur(dot)com

 

 

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