Located in the Eastern Anatolia Region of our country, Muş is a very historic city. The Urartians were the first to establish civilization in the history of Muş back in the 2000s BC. Later, Assyrians, Scythians, Medes, Persians, and Macedonians acquired Muş. The city, which was pursued by the Romans for a period of time, later became one of the …
Gümüşhane acts as a bridge with East, South, and Central Anatolia. The city, located on the Silk Road, was named as land (hane) of silver (gümüş) at the time of the Romans, and its name remained as Gümüşhane. The Assyrians, Persians, Medes, Urartu, Macedonians, Pontus, and Romans ruled in these lands. It also served as an important city during the …
Hıdırellez falls on May 5-6, 2026 – the night when, according to centuries-old Anatolian tradition, the prophets Hızır and İlyas meet on Earth and the world tips from winter into summer. It’s one of Turkey’s oldest and most quietly magical celebrations, and you don’t need to be religious – or even Turkish – to take part. This guide covers what Hıdırellez is, where the …
When one thinks of the high plateaus of Eastern Anatolia, the image of a Baltic village rarely comes to mind. However, the city of Kars holds a hidden chapter of history: a 19th-century migration of Estonians who transformed the region’s landscape, architecture, and world-famous dairy industry. The 93 War and the Great Migration (1877-1886) The story begins with the Russo-Turkish …
On the shores of Calabria, a boy gazed out at the sea under the crimson light of dawn. On the horizon, the sails of Mediterranean ships hinted at a future that would take him far beyond his small town. At only eleven years old, he was meant to be sent to a seminary in Naples. But fate had other plans: …
Imagine boarding a train in Istanbul and riding it all the way to Madine across Anatolia, through war affected Syria, past the rose red city of Petra in Jordan and into the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. For a brief window in history, this journey was real. And now, more than a century later, it may be possible again. In …
Wars live on through their battles, commanders, and body counts. Rarely, though, do we stop to recall the soldiers who said no men who looked across a rifle barrel and chose not to pull the trigger. Not because they were cowards. Because they saw a human being on the other side. In the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, one such group …
In the 16th-century Ottoman Empire, adultery, abduction, forced marriage, and sexual assault were treated not only as moral or religious transgressions but also as offenses against public order. Sanctions were designed to be both punitive and exemplary. Public humiliation, corporal punishment, mutilation, and monetary fines could all be imposed depending on the nature of the offense and the status of …
Women in Istanbul protested the high cost of living and the shortage of meat for the first time on 13 May 1808. They marched to the house of the Istanbul Qadi (chief judge), waving poles with pieces of liver -the cheapest meat at the time- tied to the ends, along with empty pots and pans they had grabbed, as a …
In the autumn of 1865, two Ottoman corvettes – Bursa and İzmir – set sail from Istanbul on a mission that should have been unremarkable: a long but well-charted voyage around the Cape of Africa to reach Basra in the Persian Gulf. The Suez Canal had not yet been opened, so the route demanded sailing the full length of the Atlantic. Aboard …