| A Message from the Mayor
Born and raised in Diyarbakir, and having worked in the region for all my life, I have rediscovered the unique beauty of my city and Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia through the pages of this modest but path breaking guide. I present this guide as an invitation, and wholeheartedly urge you to discover for yourself the hidden treasures of the region. Why such a guide? Despite all that it has to offer the curious traveller, our region has been left out of much of the popular travel literature, or else mischaracterized due to insufficient information. We know how much it has to offer, so in developing this guide, we wanted not just to lead the traveller around the historical attractions, but share some of our traditions, our deep cosmopolitan culture, and our rich heritage of language, creed, nature, and culture. We wanted the reader to learn more about region’s hospitable people and unique archaeological sites; about Mesopotamia, which gains life from the rivers Euphrates and Tigris; and about our diverse cultural heritage, which faces the threat of extinction by the very same waters. We wanted to show you, that is, the other face of our region.
If you are curious about the region, be ready to take an exhilarating journey with this guide. This land, bearing the imprint of so many civilisations, will tell you about its rich history and heritage, through its solemn fortresses, its modest pilgrimage sites, and much more. This ancient land will speak to those who know how to listen. Be our guest; this land will accommodate you well.
As the Union of Municipalities, we hope this guide will help contribute to the economic development of the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia by encouraging a sector whose potential has yet to be fully explored: tourism, an “industry without smokestacks”.
My acknowledgements are due to all those who had a hand in writing and researching this book, but first and foremost to the gracious people of the region.
Accept our warmest welcome. Meet the new and the timeless, the past in the present. Absorb, learn, enjoy!
Osman BAYDEMIR
President, Union of Southeast Anatolia Region Municipalities Mayor,
Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality
About the project
The history and contemporary culture of the predominantly Kurdish regions of the Middle East holds vast riches to explore for the adventurous and seasoned traveller, but for various reasons, both practical and political, this area, centred in the ancient region known as Mesopotamia, has been obscured from the sights of travellers. This book, primarily intended as a travel guide covering east and southeast Turkey, hopes to remedy this to some extent. The book highlights ethnographic details and paints a picture of traditions and contemporary life which goes beyond what you will find in many existing travel guides. As such, it should appeal to those with a special interest in the Kurdish regions as well as those seeking an alternative tourism experience with more direct interaction with local people, cultures and landscapes. The book takes particular care to cover less visited sites, including unusual museums and ancient ruins, many undiscovered examples of which remain to be explored by the curious visitor.
The core of the guide comprises chapters on 15 provinces. Each chapter starts with a description of the provincial capital and includes some details of how to reach the area, before covering other districts within the province. There are also additional sections giving practical advice and some historical or other background to the subjects covered.
Being a diaspora Kurd, and indeed a travelling restless one, with a special interest in the Middle East and the Kurdish heartland, I came across many difficulties when travelling in the region due to a lack of tourism infrastructure and of local and Kurdish literature written in a critical and comparative manner. This book, which relates personal and professional observation of life in the region, provides the opportunity to introduce this amazing land to both foreign and local travellers.
This book came to fruition thanks to the Mayor of Diyarbakır Mr Osman Baydemir, whose passion for tourism development in this region has driven his constant support for this project. Also thanks to GABB General Manager Mr Abdülmenaf fieker for his practical assistance throughout, the GABB member municipalities who helped the project staff with accommodation, food and transportation, and the different departments of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality. Special thanks go to the efforts of a very dedicated team of experts and editorial staff, in particular to Richard Lim for his professional support and commitment, plus the translators, proofreaders and skilled photographers, graphic designers and especially the project assistants; in particular Şirin Gencer and Ipek Tafllı whose contributions went well beyond their duties. The inspirations in shaping the project during preliminary research at the British Library came from Dr. Sarah Keeler, to whom I am truly grateful.
The team members’ own experience of living in this region, I believe, helped us reflect the realities here as perceived by ordinary people, and at the very same time, the book incorporates the local writers, museums, historians, NGOs, etc. Although not perfect, this work, it can proudly be said, is the first of its kind that has been done on such a scale, and my wish is that this will be the backbone of similar future projects to promote tourism in this ignored region.
Kameel Ahmady
Project Developer and Coordinator
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NOTE: Place names are predominantly given in Turkish in the text, though most places have older names in Kurdish or other languages, which are given in parentheses in headings or in the text itself at the first mention of the place. Population statistics in the text 2007 figures. |
