Turkish Reflections: A Biography of a Place

Mary Lee Settle, Simon and Schuster 1991, paperback, 235 pp. List: $11.50, AET: $8.50.

Reviewed by Char Simons

Cities don't change in spirit, and neither do their people. So argues Mary Lee Settle, author of Turkish Reflections: A Biography of a Place, as she takes a fascinating and entertaining look at modern-day Turkey intertwined with references to the country's Hittite, Amazon, Greek, Roman, Seljuk and Mongol inhabitants of the past. Settle is in the enviable position of returning to compare nostalgic memories of her sojourn as an American expatriate in the Mediterranean seaside resort of Bodrum from 1972 to 1974 to the Turkey of 1989. On her return visit, as she follows the trail of 13th century Seljuk ruler Aladdin, Settle's roamings go far beyond what she calls the "tourist zone" of western Aegean Turkey into the Anatolian hinterland.

Besides predictable forays into the commercial and cultural capital of Istanbul, the political capital of Ankara, and a bittersweet return to Bodrum, the trip includes stops in such lesser-known gems as the Black Sea port of Trabzon, the last Roman capital and the land of the ancient Amazon tribe of fierce warrior women; Konya, the capital of Aladdin's empire and the era's great cultural center of the entire Middle East; Gordium, Silk Road city of Midas and Aesop; and Van, home to cave paintings dating from 15,000 B.C.

Not a guidebook, travel tome, or political history, Turkish Reflections is more of a memoir cum social commentary, splashed with fascinating historical tidbits. Settle, author of more than a dozen books and recipient of the National Book Award for the novel Blood Ties, which also was set in Turkey, skillfully draws on her professional experience as writer of both fiction and nonfiction. She shares her impressions and experiences in readable style and without excessive detail. No lists of where to sleep and dine here.

Written for popular audiences, Turkish Reflections appeals to expatriates past and present who consider Turkey their adopted second home, travelers to this non-Arab Muslim land, and to Turks seeking a balanced Western view of their often-misunderstood country. The sprinkling of elementary Turkish words and phrases, along with English translations, also helps conjure up personal memories of readers who have experienced Turkey.

Turkey's negative image, particularly in the West, did not originate with the film Midnight Express or the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Rather, the idea of Turks as fiercely hostile gatekeepers to the Middle East began when the Pope called for the first Crusade to protect the Christian Byzantine Empire already destroyed by Aladdin's Seljuks. It's a stereotype that has stuck ever since.

Not an apologist for the Turks, Settle's book fills a void in global understanding of an ancient culture and its relevance to today's world. Turkey's contribution to language, literature and other arts has been largely overlooked in the West. Aladdin, Aesop, the Amazons, Midas, and Omar Khayyam, known as the Shakespeare of the Middle East, all lived within the borders of present-day Turkey. Saint Paul was a regular visitor who wrote the New Testament book of Ephesians to residents of the ancient seaport of Ephesus, now located about 10 kilometers inland from the Aegean Sea. Even the English word "meander" comes from the Turkish Meander River which winds through the central highlands.

Perhaps the consummate Turkish contribution to the ancient world was the han, a series of country inns established by Aladdin in the 12th century. A day's march apart by camel caravan, hans provided armed protection, shelter, food, baths, music, sometimes a poet and always news and gossip to travelers free of charge for three days. The result of such hospitality was a drawing together of artists, holy men and pilgrims from throughout the Middle East. As Settle puts it:

"There is a word that defines a civilized empire, and has done so from the Aegean Greek city-states, to the early Byzantines, to the little kingdom of Trebizond, then to the Seljuks. That word is welcome..."

The quintessential Middle Eastern trait of hospitality remains at the core of the Turkish soul today. Settle depicts the individual Turks she encounters around the country as archetypes of the hospitable and generous Turkish character. She also offers light narrative explanations of Turkish customs and culture.

The book also dispels some common myths. For example, even in the conservative eastern part of the country, thieves are punished not by having their hands cut off but rather by the shame and isolation heaped on their families. She also looks beyond the cult of the much-loved leader of 20th century Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, to describe a strongly anti-religious leader who could be cruel and ruthless in carrying out his single-minded struggle to modernize his country. And then there's the myth of the camel-riding nomad. Tribal wanderers are on the wane, and the only camel Settle saw was for the benefit of tourists sunning at the popular Mediterranean resort of Alanya.

While not a political history, Turkish Reflections provides glimpses of contemporary problems such as the dilemma of Turks who return to a homeland they don't know after being employed as guest workers in Europe; the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, which draws its strength from urban poverty and rural conservatism; the government death squads that quell dissidents; the liberal rich who are dazzled by Western lifestyles; Turkey's regional power plays expressed by controlling the life-giving flow of water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; and the effects on western Turkey of omnipresent tourists and archeologists.

Settle also examines the effects on Turkey of events outside. Both the Turkish government and Armenian Americans have hired Washington, DC public relations firms to represent their sides of the World War I tragedy. According to Settle, both sides were to blame, even though the Armenian spin doctors are winning the current public relations war.

Curiously absent from Turkish Reflections, however, is any explanation of harsh Turkish treatment of its Kurdish minority, other than a brief mention of Turkey being the only country to take in Iraqi Kurdish refugees after the Gulf war. Also missing are more personal details that belong in such a memoir. The author, who now lives in Charlottesville, VA, does not discuss why she came to and left Turkey in the first place, her experiences of living and traveling as a woman in a traditional society and why she decided to return 15 years later.

Nevertheless, Turkish Reflections is one of the best books I've read on the country and puts into context and perspective my own Turkish experience. In addition, the timeliness of her work is unmistakable, as Turkey once again grapples with the clash between the modernism imposed by Ataturk and the return to tradition sought by the Islamists. From the author's insights into Turkish history and psyche, readers can surmise that, eventually, the country will strike a political and cultural balance.

Char Simons is a free-lance journalist based in Olympia, WA. She writes frequently on the Middle East and lived in Turkey in 1987-88.