News

2008.0409

Diversed Turkey Mixes Everything

By Jocy Su Campus Reporter Turkish culture and food were introduced and presented during the international culture activity, held by the Office of International Affairs, at the International Lounge today. Turkish graduate student Ugur Rifet Karlova from the Graduate Institute of Politics was featured at the scene, as he was invited to introduce his motherland. "My hometown is beautiful on every aspect,” he said. Karlova described Turkey as country which was cultivated by various cultures due to its unique geographic location.  Its food, music, arts and even religion were regarded as the combination of European, Asian and even African cultures. The Wikipedia said that Turkey is situated in Anatolia and Southeastern Europe (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosphorus is geographically part of Europe, and Anatolia is part of Southwestern Asia), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria. The country extends more than 1,600 kilometers from west to east but generally less than 8800 kilometers from north to south.  Total land area is about 779,452 square kilometers, of which 755,688 square kilometers are in Asia and 23,764 square kilometers in Europe. Anatolia is a large, roughly rectangular peninsula situated brige-like between southeastern Europe and Asia.  Tha Anatolian part of Turkey accounts for 97 percent of the country’s area.  It is also known as Asia Minor, Asiatic Turkey, the Anatolian Plateau.  The term Anatolia is most frequently used in specific reference to the large, semiarid central plateau, which is rimmed b hills and mountains that in many places limit access to the fertile, densely setteled coastal regions. The European portion of Turkey, known as Thrace, encompassess three percent of the total area but is home to more than 10 percent of the total population.  Thrace is separated from the Asian portion of Turkey by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles. Karlova mentioned that most Turkish people are Musilm followers and they love oily food, which can also be one of the reason that most Turkish people do not enjoy long lives. The recent 2005 Eurobarometer Poll showed that nominally, 99 percent of the Turkish poplulation is Muslim,of whom a majority belong to the Sunni branch of Islam.  A sizeable minority of the population is affiliated with the Alevi sect.  The remainder of the population belongs to other beliefs, particularly Christian denominations (Greek Orthodox, American Apostolic, Syriac Orthodox, Chaldean Catholic, Church of the East), Judaism, Yezidism and others are irreligious.