TARAFITS Archives - Turkey & Central Asia

Influence of Buddhism on Islam

2010-07-24T18:29:00.001-07:00

FOUNDATION FOR INDO-TURKIC STUDIES

Tel/Fax ; 43034706 Amb (Rtd) K Gajendra Singh

Emails; Gajendrak@hotmail.com A-44 ,IFS Apartments

KGSingh@Yahoo.com Mayur Vihar –Phase 1,

http://tarafits.blogspot.com/ Delhi 91, India .

Influence of Buddhism on Islam

Through out history, there was natural interaction through migration and conquest, travel and trade, between the Fertile Crescent, Asia Minor, Persia, Khorasan and Central Asia and Hindustan. Alexander the Macedonian went up to Bukhara and then north west Hindustan. Earlier some Indo- Aryan tribes like Mitannis had migrated from Eurasian steppes and ruled in upper Mesopotamia. Then the Arab armies marched north east and conquered areas up to the steppes. Then the Turkish tribes marched from eastern Asian steppes to Persia! and Turkey (and the Indian sub-continent). Then came Chengiz Khan and the Mongol hordes.

Culturally, linguistically, ethnically and spiritually there is no area in the world that has so much in common as that formed by the regions connecting the river basins of Euphrates, Tigris; Amu and Syr Darya: Indus and the Ganges. This is an area with a continuous history and cradle of most civilizations and religions; Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Judaism and Christianity and Islam and their variations. The intermingling of Semitic, Indo-Iranian and Ural- Altaic languages with local languages produced a mosaic of new languages and tongues.

Influence of Buddhism in Central Asia perhaps started from the time of Greek King Menander in Bactria. During the rule of Kushana Emperor Kanishka (who was converted to Buddhism) from Peshawar, not only traders but also religious teachers moved freely throughout his Empire which then encompassed today's Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang, Pakistan and Northern India and laid the foundations for the spread of Buddhism. Earlier Asoka had undertaken energetic steps to spread the Dhamma, but his efforts were more successful in South East Asia and Ceylon. Buddhism was taken to Central Asia either directly or via Tibet or Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang) where with little competition, it was easily accepted . But it was not so in Sogdiana and around it, where Zoroastrians were well entrenched, later came followers of Manichaeism and Nestorian Christians. Conquerors (and traders) spread their religions, but they were also influenced by the cultures and the creeds of the ruled.

To begin with in Buddhism symbols represented Buddha and Tantras. Sculpture representing Buddha in human form is a Greek contribution through Gandhara art from Afghanistan. Starting from Bactria, Buddhism evolved the concept of Bodhisattva Maitreya as incarnations for attaining Nirvana and return to guide and help the laity. This universal and secular religion found favour with Central Asian Turks and Mongols (also Uyghur's in Xinjiang) when it reached there.

Influence of Viharas and Stupas on darghas and khankahs in Central Asia

Excavations have revealed Viharas and Stupas all over eastern Turkistan, up to Bukhara and into Turkmenistan. To begin with, Stupas were built to keep sacred relics (of Buddha and some of his disciples) although Buddha himself was against such practices. Later Stupas became associated with the symbols of remains of saints and cemeteries. The respect and veneration is , perhaps ,based more on Aryan belief in Brahman or the Reality (Universal Soul) and Atman (individual Soul) with the saints having achieved the Union with the Reality. Prophet Mohammed had underlined that God and man are different. (Christians have still not resolved this dilemma fully). Miracles and veneration of dead persons are denounced in Quran (Sura XI, 31).

Stupas started as simple structures, as in Sanchi in Central India (1st or 2nd Cent BC) with a semi-spherical dome for the remains, fenced by a wall and 4 entrances and a Chhatri (umbrella symbolising the Lord and the Sovereign). Later a raised square platform was added under the dome with the structures then becoming more complex and sophisticated, adorned with sculptures like Bamiyan Buddhas and paintings (some times in caves i.e. in Ajanta and Barhaut in India). Viharas are monasteries with cells constructed around a court yard, with Stupa in the middle, for monks to stay during the heavy Indian monsoon rains. Normally the monks were not to attach themselves to any fixed place.

With the spread of Buddhism Central Asians including Turks and Mongols adopted and assimilated phrases from Buddhism i.e. Sanskrit and Pali words like Nirvana =Nirvana (Nibanna), Dhamma =Dharma, Cindan =Chandan (sandalwood), used for funerary ceremony, Aratna =Ratan, Stup =Stupa, Mandal= Mandala, Chakra= Chakra, Bodhistava =Bodhistav, Bakshi (accountant)=Bhikku /Bhikshu (because a Bhikshu once did accounts for the Mongols) etc.

An excavation in 1930s at Moghoki Attar mosque in Bukhara, perhaps the oldest surviving mosque in Central Asia, revealed under it ruins of a Zoroastrian temple destroyed by Arabs and an earlier Buddhist temple beneath it. The name Bukhara itself perhaps derives from Vihara. (Tashkent could be from Tashkhund; region of stones in Sanskrit). There are many ruins of Viharas and Stupas in Termez on Amu Darya (Uzbekistan), Merv (Turkmenistan), Afrasiab (Samarkand), Khojand etc in Ferghana valley and around Lake Issik Kul in Kyrgyzstan .Of course in Eastern Turkistan (and Tibet) apart from the ruins, many thousand old Buddhist manuscripts (300 pages found in Merv too) and books were recovered. Buddhist paintings have also been found in Afrasiab and elsewhere in Central Asia. It is not a simple coincidence that after Islam's arrival all these places became centres of Sufi Islam. From Stupas and Viharas have perhaps emerged sacred tombs, khankahs, darghas and madarsas.

Tombs were not popular in Arab heartland around Saudi Arabia. But the Persian, Turkish, Asian and African, even Berber Muslims accepted Pirs, Calandars, Sheikhs, Babas, Dervishes and others and their tombs became places of worship. Freedom loving eclectic nomads and others resisted Arab warriors in Sogdiana and Central Asia and their still austere Islam. It was only the modified, personalised and spiritual Islam of Persian Samanids based in Bukhara (Ismail's tomb looks like a simple Stupa) that was first accepted by Turks and others in Central Asia .To Islam had been added strands of local religions and beliefs .It is this form of Islam that was spread in India mostly by Sufi saints, but also by forced conversions or inducements.

Sufism developed fully by 12^th century by which time Arab Islam had been modified and enriched by streams from Persian, Central Asian and other religions, beliefs and philosophies .It was in the heartland of Arab Islam ie Baghdad and Aleppo, where Sufis saints Al Hajj (for insisting " Ana Al-haq "-I am the Truth) and Suhrawardy were martyred. Because of Sunni hostility tombs were erected much after the martyrdom of Imam Ali and Imam Hussein in Najaf and Karbala. The Wahhabis, Salafis remain deadly opposed to Sufism.

The major Sufi Tariqas ( ways) had central Asian origin or influence i.e., Qadiriyas, Nakshabandis (many current Turkish leaders are its adherents), Rumi's dervishes, Bektashis, the patron saint of non-Turkish (mostly Slav), non- Muslim ( mostly Christian) born Janissary corps and top Administrators of the Ottoman Empire based on devshirme (slave ) system. Turkey's Shia Alevis' faith (majority from Turkmen Oghuz tribes) has strands from Christian, Shaman and other beliefs.

Intermingling of beliefs and faiths;

Human wish to comprehend and experience the Reality is as old as the natural talent to transcend beyond oneself, until this faculty was dimmed by technological afflictions. There are glimpses of it in earliest Aryan writings like Vedas and Avestan, even among Greek philosophers like Orpheus, Pythagoras, Socrates and others .So the environment and tools existed before formal religions evolved or were revealed.

Buddha himself went through the whole gamut of experiments and meditations including Jain like and other austerities, Hindu systems before realisng Nirvana. And his path and method of meditation were modified in east India, Tibet, China and Japan. If Buddhism influenced the evolution of Sufi Islam then Buddhism itself was influenced earlier by other religions and practices.

Indo-Iranian religion Mithraism flowered between the 2nd and 4^th centuries in the Roman world and became very popular among the Roman aristocracy, military leaders and soldiers, traders and slaves with powerful patrons among Roman emperors, like Commodus, Septimium Severus, Caraculla and others. Diocletian built a temple for Mithra near Vienna on Danube as "the Protector of the Empire". He was the god of Light and Sun, contract, loyalty and justice. Celebrations for Mithra's birthday on December 25, the sun's solstice, was so popular in the Asia that Christmas had to be shifted to this day from January 6 to make it acceptable among the masses. Christianity also took over many of the rituals and symbols of Mithraism, like baptism, resurrection and prayers to honor the Sun.

India's Sikh religion also known as gurmat, the teachings of the guru, founded by Guru Nanak (1469-1539), combines many elements of Hinduism and Islam. Guru Nanak believed that one could come close to the God through meditation and devotion .God is the true guru and his divine word has come to the humanity through the 10 historical gurus. Their sacred scripture Adi Granth is also called "Guru Granth Saheb ". The Sikh temples are known as gurdwaras, Guru's door. Many Shi'ites Ghulat groups believe that Ali and the Imams are doors to God. When the Sunni Moghul emperors persecuted the Sikhs and their gurus, Sikh religion took to militancy and those who died for the panth ( gurus' path) became martyrs.

Human beings have evolved many paths to the Reality ie various Yoga systems; Tibetan, Zen, Vipassana and other Buddhist Margs, Jewish Kabbalah, Christian Hesychasm, Gurdjief way, Sufi Tariqas and Transcendental Meditation (TM) in modern times for spiritually challenged materialists. The masses accept what the saints and holy men they trust teach them.

September4, 2004.Bucharest.

(K Gajendra Singh, served as Indian Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan in 1992-96. Prior to that, he served as ambassador to Jordan (during the 1990-91 Gulf war), Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. The views expressed here are his own.- Email-Gajendrak@hotmail.com)

Mosque and tombs

The word mosque itself derives from the Arabic masjid, "a place where one prostrates one's self (in front of God)." In earliest times any place could be used for private prayer with correct direction (qiblah, originally Jerusalem, but soon after Mecca). The collective prayer on Fridays, with a collective swearing of allegiance to the community's leadership also strengthens common bonds among all members of the Ummah.

According to some experts, the Quran does not utter a word for or against the representation of living things. But from about the middle of the 8th century a prohibition was formally stated .It became a standard feature of Islamic thought, even though the form in which it was expressed varied from absolute to partial. It has been suggested that Islam developed this attitude when it came into contact with other cultures and it was felt that the dreaded idol worship might return. The Qur'an (Sura ix, 31) prohibits the veneration of holy men and saints. In early Islam there was no special embellishment of funerary sites; 'the tombs of the rich and poor are! alike'. But the human desire to venerate and by many to be venerated is too old and deep rooted. The first changes occurred through veneration of the tombs of holy persons.

It appears that the construction of commemorative buildings over certain burial places began in the late 9th and 10th centuries especially over those of Shi'ite saints. Then over the tombs, mostly in Iran and Central Asia, of rulers of marginal or semi-independent regions, who often followed non-Sunni beliefs? T! hey were to project status symbols of secular power and were rather ambitious .In contrast, the tombs of holy men were simpler – which went towards satisfying the devotional needs of the population. Generally complex ensembles grew up around the tombs of many saints, like that of the mystic Sufi poet Jalal ud-Din Rumi, in Konya, or of Bayazid, in Bistam (1313).

Therefore the earliest surviving tombs belong to Shi'ite persona; the shrine of Fatima, sister of the Imam 'Ali ar-Rida at Qum, and that of the Imam Ali in Najaf. The earliest rulers' tombs are of 'Abbasid Caliphs al-Muntasir (in Samarra in 862), al-Mu'tazz and al-Mohtadi (built as a domed square building enclosed in an octagonal ambulatory) and are better preserved. A feature of royalty mausoleums was its concentration, like the Timurid Shah-i Zinda ensemble in Samarqand of 14th and 15^th centuries or the Mamluk tombs of Cairo.

Mausoleums were also built to commemorate Biblical persons, companions of the Prophet and scholars, popular heroes and ghazis (fighters for the Faith). From 12th century secular mausoleums proliferated all over the world, in Egypt and Central Asia, northern and north-eastern Iran and Anatolia, and also in India and North Africa. They continue to be built, both for spiritual and secular leaders e.g., Firdausi, Avicenna, Umar Khayya! m, the late Agha Khan and the poet-philosopher Iqbal, and particularly imposing structures for Riza Shah Pahlavl, Ataturk and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The mausoleum of the Samanids in Bukhara, commonly referred to as the Tomb of Isma'il, was constructed before 943 and consists of a square structure with a large central dome and four small corner ones set over a gallery. Especially noteworthy is the use of bricks to create different patterns in its various parts.

Then of course there are the famous imperial Moghul mausoleums, of Humayun (d. 1556) in Delhi, built of red sandstone and white marble; and the marvel in marble, the Taj Mahal, built in Agra by Emperor Shah Jehan for his favourite queen Mumtaz Mahal. The mausoleum of Akbar (d. 1605) is at Sikandra, and of his son Jehangir (d1627) near Lahore. The word mausoleum comes from the structure built in Asia Minor (Bodrum -Western Turkey) for an Asian ruler, Mausolus by his Queen, around the time Alexander the Great passed that way.

Influence of Buddhism on Islam

2010-05-14T22:52:00.001-07:00

Influence of Buddhism on Islam

Influence of Viharas and Stupas on darghas and khankahs in Central Asia

Intermingling of beliefs and faiths;

Mosque and tombs

September4, 2004.Bucharest.

(K Gajendra Singh, served as Indian Ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan in 1992-96. Prior to that, he served as ambassador to Jordan (during the 1990-91 Gulf war), Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. The views expressed here are his own.- Email-Gajendrak@hotmail.com)

Turkey and the Central Asian ethnic octopus

2010-03-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

FOUNDATION FOR INDO-TURKIC STUDIES

Tel/Fax ; 0040216374602 Amb (Rtd) K Gajendra Singh

Emails; Gajendrak@hotmail.com Flat No 5, 3^rd Floor

KGSingh@Yahoo.com 9, Sos Cotroceni,

Web site. Bucharest (Romania ).

www.tarafits.com 17 December, 2003

Asia Time online

Turkey and the Central Asian ethnic octopus
By K Gajendra Singh 18 December, 2003

Once again, Chechen suicide bombers have struck in the center of Moscow, on December 10, this time to influence the outcome of parliamentary elections in Russia. An earlier devastating attack on a train near Chechnya on December 5 killed over 40 persons and injured hundreds more.

Russia has many millions of Muslim citizens. Tragically, these bleeding attacks are not expected to be the last. Chechens and other tribes around the Black Sea and the Caspian and the mountainous Caucasian region which separates Russia and the Middle East and Anatolia migrated here and have established deep roots. Like sleeper cells put in place over the centuries, their presence could have ramifications beyond their borders and serious implications for the region.

In the Caucasian region - which includes southwest Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia - not only do the geological plates grind against each other, making the area earthquake prone, strategically the tectonic plates of kingdoms and empires have rubbed against each other throughout history. Powers and states have always interfered with each other, and they still do so. Earlier the actors were Turks and Mongols from Central Asia and then the Ottoman and Safavid empires. Later, the Russians replaced the Mongols and the Turks, and after World War I the British from the southeast. Now, the United States has taken over the mantle from the British in this Great Game.

The region remains very important and dangerous, with complex linkages and relationships between the people of Turkey and the people of the Caucasian region. These ties were established when the Ottoman empire was shrinking, and they are deep and abiding.

But after World War I, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the creation of the Turkish republic in Anatolia by Kemal Ataturk saw outside contact with the Muslim peoples of not only Central Asia but the Caucasian region cease almost altogether. Ataturk jettisoned the Ottoman religious heritage and he forced Turks to look West and become Westernized, modern and secular citizens in an effort to reach the levels of contemporary European civilization. During my first tenure in Ankara (1969-73), there was little real interest or even material available on Central Asia. Pan-Turkic leaders like Alp Aslan Turkes were looked on with suspicion.

The sudden collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkey's historical enemy, pleased the Turks to no end. It opened the floodgates of exchanges and relations between the Turks of Anatolia and the Turkic people of Central Asia and the Caucasus. There were delegations galore, with the two "lost people" hugging each other, with many Central Asian leaders bending down to touch the soil of Turkey with their foreheads on first arrival. The initiative to bring the Turkic countries together was taken up by president Turgut Ozal, but unfortunately he died in 1993.

Migration and intermingling among Turks and Caucasians
From the mid-19th century, tens of thousands of refugees flooded into the Ottoman empire in flight from oppression and massacres. The Ottoman countryside had been largely depopulated since the 17th century as the result of misrule and the ravages of war, famine and plague. So the Refugee Code (Muhadrin Kanunnamesi) of 1857 granted plots of state land to immigrant families and groups. They were given exemptions from taxes and conscription for six years if they settled in Rumeli (the European part ) and for 12 years if they opted for Anatolia. They were to cultivate the land and not to sell or leave it for 20 years and they had to become the subjects of the sultan, accepting his laws and justice.

They had freedom of religion, whatever their faith, and were allowed to build churches if none were available. News of the decree spread widely through Europe and met with a ready response from various groups unable to find land or political peace at home. Almost to the end, the Ottoman rulers were tolerant of other religions. It is the West which exploited ethnic and religion-based nationalism to break the Ottoman empire and divide Hindustan, Palestine, Cyprus and other regions. But the same right is denied to the north Irish, Basques, Corsicans, Sardinians and others.

A Refugee Commission (Muhacirin Komisyort) established in 1860 in the trade ministry became an independent agency in July 1861. It was a belated response to the influx. Most of the refugees came from the Turkish, Tatar and Circassian lands being conquered by the Russians to the north and west of the Black Sea and the Caspian. Even though there was no official Russian policy of driving these Muslims from their homes, the new Christian governments imposed in the Crimea (1783), in the areas of Baku and Kuban (1796), in Nahcivan and the eastern Caucasus (1828), and finally in Anapa and Poti, northeast of the Black Sea, following the Treaty of Edirne (1829), made thousands of Muslims uncomfortable enough to migrate, without special permission or attraction, into Ottoman territory.

Even hundreds of Russian "Old Believers" had fled from the reforms of Peter and Catherine, settling in the Dobruca and along the Danube near the Black Sea. Between 1848 and 1850 they were joined by thousands of non-Muslim immigrants, farmers as well as political and intellectual leaders fleeing from the repression that accompanied and followed the revolutions of 1848, especially from Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland. While many of these were absorbed by Ottoman urban life, many were settled as farmers or managers of the farms being built by large landowners, contributing to both estate-building and the improvement of cultivation.

The flow became a torrent after the Crimean War following new persecutions elsewhere in Europe. The war itself led the Russians to change their relatively tolerant policy toward the Tatars and Circassians into one of active persecution and resettlement from their original homes to desolate areas in Siberia and even farther east. (This was repeated during World War 2) The result was mass migration into Ottoman territory, often with the encouragement of the Russians, who were glad to get rid of the old population to Russianize and Christianize the southern areas of their new empire.
From individual accounts it appears that the numbers were immense. Some 176,700 Tatars from the Nogay and Kuban settled in central and southern Anatolia between 1854 and 1860. (I always stopped by Esksehir for lunch, where Tatars sell fried thin-rolled bread like puris in India, except it is more delicious). Approximately a million came in the next decade, of whom a third were settled in Rumeli, the rest in Anatolia and Syria. From the Crimea alone, from 1854 to 1876, 1.4 million Tatars migrated into the Ottoman empire.

Even Slavic migration begun before the Crimean War intensified - Cossacks who fled from the Russian army settled as farmers in Macedonia, Thrace and western Anatolia. Bulgarians settled in the Crimea to replace the Tatars returned to their homes in the Ottoman empire from an alien environment. The mass migration of Muslims continued, though at a somewhat less intense pace, during the early years of Abdulhamit II, mostly in consequence of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1888 and the autonomy given to Bulgaria and Romania, Austrian control of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the cession of northern Dobruca to Romania and northern Macedonia to Serbia. Official statistics estimated that over a million refugees entered the empire between 1876 and 1895. The number of male Muslims doubled during the years from 1831 to 1882, with the proportion of Muslims to non-Muslims increasing substantially.

The immigrants were settled widely throughout the empire, many in villages that had been abandoned and some in eastern Anatolia, particularly in Cilicia (Adana region) and Arab lands like Syria, sometimes leading to conflict and problems. The lands could not have been intensively cultivated and the rural middle class built up had it not been for the tremendous influx of refugees who provided the necessary labor and males for future wars.

But the ingress and intermingling of Caucasian people with the Turks is much deeper among its elite. "Young girls of extraordinary beauty, plucked from the slave market, were sent to the sultan's court, often as gifts from his governors. Among the singular, lasting privileges of the valide [mother] sultana was the right to present her son with a slave girl on the eve of Kurban Bayram [sacrificial day]. The girls were all non-Muslims, uprooted at a tender age. The sultans were partial to the fair, doe-eyed beauties from the Caucasus region. Circassians, Georgians and Abkhasians were proud mountain girls, believed to be the descendents of the Amazon women who had lived in Scythia near the Black Sea in ancient times and who had swept down through Greece as far as Athens, waging a war that nearly ended the city's glamorous history.

"Now they were being kidnapped or sold by impoverished parents. A customs declaration from around 1790 establishes their worth at about 20 percent to 40 percent of a horse. The promise of a life of luxury and ease overcame parental scruples against delivering their children into concubinage. Many Circassian and Georgian families encouraged their daughters to enter that life willingly. They were immediately converted to Islam and began an arduous training in palace etiquette and Islamic culture." (From Harem by Alev Lytle Croutier).

Lucie Duff Gordon also reported it in her 1864 travel diary. While the earlier mothers of sultans were Greek or Serbian princesses married to the rulers, after the capital shifted to Constantinople, everyone was a member of the harem under valide sultana's control, with those giving birth to children, especially boys, jumping up in the harem hierarchy.

Many of the mother sultanas were Circassians and Georgians, one even French, Aimee de Rivery. They exercised great influence over their sons, now the sultan. The harem politics also became a reason for the decline of the empire. The word odalisque literally "woman in the room", comes from oda (room). But harem life was embellished by feverish European imagination, whose rulers were no less sensual, but lacked wealth and culture at that time.

In friendly arguments with Turkish friends, mostly diplomats, I would tease them, "What do you mean you are a Turk. You don't even look like a Turk. They are chinky-eyed and have little hair on their face. Of course you speak good Turkish, as you have been practicing it for 500 years." This devastating repartee usually ended the argument. Most would smile and happily admit that his grand uncle or grandmother came from Circassia or Bosnia. During the days of the empire, the elite called itself the Ottomans. The word Turk was reserved for the village yokel and a term of contempt. It was Kemal Ataturk who bestowed dignity on the word Turk.

Turkey and Central Asia
President Ozal's successor, Sulieman Demirel, did not have his vision or drive with regards to Central Asia and the whole thing came to a standstill, although after initial resistance to Turkish aggression Turkic leaders felt more comfortable in an institutional relationship with Turkey. In any case, even if Turkey had wished for a bigger role in Central Asia, it did not have the wherewithal to play it. Many Central Asian leaders to whom power fell like manna from heaven in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union were confused and rudderless. They were cautious and wanted good relations with all. The US encouraged Turkey and was afraid that Russia would try to come back, which it tried in some ways, but the horse had already bolted the stable.

Fears that Iran would spread its version of fanatic Islam and support anti-US regimes also proved farfetched. After an eight-year exhausting war with Iraq in the 1980s, in which Iran lost a million young people, there was little energy or money left to spread its message of Shi'ite revolution. Except for the Azeris and some other pockets, most people in Central Asia are Sunni Muslims, closer to the more mystic Sufi way of life. They have a very high level of education and a lifestyle of drinking and good living. With deep-grained nomadic habits, they could not easily be led to Islamic fundamentalism. It was ill-conceived US, Saudi and Pakistani policies that brought Wahhabi Islam to Central Asia.

Except for the Caspian basin for its energy resources and in Kyrgyzstan, the American leadership soon lost interest. The Caspian basin has between 60 to 200 billion barrels of oil. The US courted Kyrgyz president Askar Akayev, touting him as a democrat and helped his country join the World Trade Organization in 1998. The reason was to have a friendly regime with freedom to base personnel and sensing equipment to monitor China, next door. Akayev has proved no different than leaders of other Central Asian republics in terms of his record on democracy though.

The early 1990s were a very opportune moment for Turkey, which under the dynamic leadership of Ozal had successfully undergone a decade of economic reforms and had opened its economy to the West, especially Europe. The country had many trained managers and experts who, because of ethnic, linguistic and religious similarity, became advisers and even ministers in the new Turkic governments in Central Asia. Both at state level and in the private sector, Turkey made large investments in Central Asia and Azerbaijan. The Turkish government provided loans amounting to US$750 million to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Turkish private investment runs into billions of dollars. Turks have established industries and run hotels and other businesses.

Turkey also arranged to train 10,000 students and teachers from the new republics. Turkish as spoken in the Republic has been purified by excluding many Arabic and Persian words. Many European words, especially from French (almost all in the game of bridge) have been added. The Azeri language is quite similar to Turkish, as well as the Turcoman language. The languages spoken by Uzbeks, Kyrgyz and in Kazakhstan are somewhat different. Originally, Soviet Russians prescribed Latin script for the Central Asian languages, but when Ataturk changed to the Latin script from Arabic, the Russians changed to Cyrillic. Many Turks have opened schools in Central Asia, too. Turkey has also started beaming Avrasia TV programs to Central Asia, but with uneven results.

But Turkey's efforts to create an area of influence in Central Asia were opposed by the newly independent leadership. A loose organization of Turkic states exists without having achieved much. The old Baghdad pact was joined by the new Central Asian republics and became the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). To soothe the Russians, a Black Sea organization was also created, but it remains equally ineffective. Tansu Chiller, who had still not shot to fame by becoming the first woman prime minister of Turkey, told me that Central Asian governments did not repay Turkish loans, while they paid back Western ones. I had also been told that the new leadership in Central Asia would like to establish authoritarian political regimes and try to follow the capitalist system of East Asia. It has certainly succeeded rather well in its first objective.

Problems in the Caucasus
Soon nationalist Russian politicians, ex-communist cadres, ambitious Russian generals, local mafia and international oil executives all entered the fray to play their part for personal or national gains on the Caucasian chessboard.

Even Turkey was put in an embarrassing situation when Azeri president Heydar Aliyev, who died last Friday at the age of 80, accused a Turkish group in 1995 of trying to overthrow him with the help of his opponents in the capital Baku. But generally Demirel, a believer in the status quo, was helpful to Aliyev. Himself sent packing twice by the armed forces when prime minister, Demirel suggested to Aliyev to go on television and take other steps to control rebellions in Baku. This was a technique King Carlos of Spain had used successfully to quell rebellion by his armed forces.

East and south Turkey and the Kurdish rebellion
From 1984 to 1999, Abdullah Ocalan led the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) rebellion for a Kurdish state in the southeast of Turkey, a campaign that cost over 35,000 lives, mostly Kurds, including the lives of more than 5,000 Turkish soldiers. To control and neutralize the rebellion, thousands of Kurdish villages were bombed, destroyed, abandoned or relocated; millions of Kurds were moved to shanty towns in the south and east or migrated westwards. The economy of the region was shattered. Half of the Kurdish population now lives in western Turkey, making Istanbul the second largest Kurdish city after Diyarbakir. With a third of the Turkish army tied up in the southeast, the cost of countering the insurgency amounted to between $6 billion to $8 billion a year. After the capture of Ocalan in 1999 and the passage of laws last year to ease the lives of Kurds, things have now quieted.

The war in the 1980s between Iraq and resurgent Shi'ite Iran helped the PKK to establish itself in the lawless Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. The PKK also helped itself with arms freely available in the region during the eight-year war. After the 1990-91 Gulf crisis and war, with lack of legitimate authority and absence of possible Turko-Iraqi joint offensives against the Kurds in the north of Iraq, the Kurdish rebellion blossomed most violently. Turkey crossed over quite deep into north Iraq from time to time for punitive attacks on PKK hideouts and formations, despite the usual international furor. It even bombed some border areas in Iran too, where the PKK might have taken shelter.

The attempt by the Turkish armed forces and the establishment to clear east and south Turkey of Kurdish rebels (and populations) , has made it easy for groups to move around from one country to another, notably from Turkey to Iran and Afghanistan and from Azerbaijan to Chechnya.

Once, while I was able to drive along the sea coast from Baku to the border with Daghestan, I was advised not to go towards Gynza, towards the border with Georgia. It was a dangerous area under Surat Hassonov, a mafia chief and smuggler and once prime minister of Azerbaijan under Aliyev. There are many such areas in the region, and mafia teams in the import and export business do not pay customs duties. Even ministers are involved. The bludgeoning truck-based trade between Turkey and the Central Asian republics via Azerbaijan and Iran, without proper police control, means control by the mafia and freedom of movement for those who are determined or prepared to pay up.

Political-police-mafia link in Turkey
In a notorious case, an automobile crashed at Susurluk in western Anatolia on November 3, 1996. In the accident, Haseyin Kocadag, director of the Istanbul police academy, Abdallah Catli, a "Grey Wolf" ultra-nationalist militant and gangster who was implicated in seven murders in 1978 and convicted on drugs charges in Switzerland, and Catli's mistress, Goncas, were all killed in the same car. The driver of the car was Sedat Bucak, a ruling True Path party deputy and Kurdish chieftain heading a large gang of "village guards" (that is, pro-government Kurdish militiamen paid for and trained by the armed forces), who was the only occupant to survive. The crash suggested credible links between the security forces, the "Grey Wolves", organized crime and pro-government Kurdish chiefs.

In the beginning of November 1998, 25 prosecutions were launched covering murder, gangsterism and narcotics smuggling, in which 75 suspects were charged and the parliamentary immunities of both Bucak and of Mehmet Agar, the minister of interior, was lifted. But after two years, only two relatively low-ranking police officers had been convicted. Most of the alleged ringleaders in these crimes remained at large, some abroad, with even diplomatic passports. Inquiries revealed nothing concrete, but it emerged that the police regularly used mafia hit men to kill PKK people.

Istanbul bombs
The human bombers who destroyed two synagogues in Istanbul last month have been traced to Bingol, a small dusty town near the Iranian border. It means 1,000 lakes, and includes lake Van. I spent four quiet days in 1969 looking around the region, including lake Van, as the guest of its vali (governor) Kemal Ozturk, a very charming and gracious host, with evenings beginning with high officials - including the military chief - at 6pm and ending two hours past midnight. I found the same kind of lavish hospitality, now declining in Turkey, at Babur University as well as at private homes in Uzbekistan's Ferghana Valley city of Andijan (the birth place of Babur, the founder of the Moghul Empire in India ) which I visited in 1998.

By the 1990s Bingol had become Kurdish rebel-infested and dangerous. When I revisited nearby cities like Diyarbakir, the main Kurdish stronghold, by 4pm before sundown everyone, including the police, would retire for the day, thus leaving most of the countryside in south and east Turkey for rebels and others to roam about and transfer personnel and arms.

Nearby is the city of Batman, which had become the center of the Turkish Hezbollah. Unfortunately, the Turkey establishment helped this organization by encouraging some of its units in the region in the mid-1990s to eliminate PKK guerillas or sympathizers in southeast Turkey. The Turkish Hezbollah is quite different from the Lebanese one, and was reportedly helped by the Iranians. Only when Hezbollah started creating cells in Istanbul and west Turkey was the experiment abandoned, but the cat was out of the bag.

Jordan connection
Despite very strong control by the security establishment in Jordan, mostly manned by loyal tribesmen, the country with nearly a 60 percent population of Palestinian origin remains a place of acute underground activity. Daily killings and counter-killings across the border in the occupied West Bank and Gaza make things worse. It is a stronghold of Muslim Brotherhood, which did very well in 1990 elections, with King Hussein even including some of them in the cabinet to face Western criticism of not joining in the coalition against Saddam Hussein.

The United Kingdom and the United States blatantly encouraged Islamic and obscurantist groups to counter nationalist and socialist regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere from the beginning of the 1950s to the end of the 1970s, when Iran's Shi'ite revolution unnerved everyone. But for the Western support to Islamic elements, it would have led to more equitable and democratic regimes in the region. So the current talk by Western leaders and the media of ushering democracy into the region is absolute humbug. And nobody is fooled, except sometimes Thomas Friedman of the New York Times.

Jordan has produced many well-known jihadis, like Ibn-al-Khatib. There are now two new factors. The reported linkages between Jordanians of Caucasus origin and Chechens. Most of them are Circassians, known as Cherkess. It could be a very dangerous development because the Cherkess are the Hashemite kingdom's palace guards and hold important key positions in the police establishment and elsewhere.

Although only about 15,000 in number, a seat in parliament is reserved for them. After World War I, when Emir Abdullah, son of King Hussein of Hejaz and great great-grandfather of King Abdullah, stopped at Amman to reclaim Syria, which had been promised by the British to the Arabs for revolting against the Ottomans, the Cherkess community, which had been established since the 19th century, was the first to express its loyalty to him. Although the Cherkess community has remained loyal, there are now murmurs of disaffection. The number of Circassians in Syria is much higher, but then Syria exercises very strict control over such groups. Thoughtless efforts by the US neo-conservatives to destabilize Syria would have devastating consequences.

The late King Hussein, before dying of cancer in 1999, to further strengthen the British and the American motivation to protect the kingdom and his dynasty, at the last minute removed his younger brother, Crown Prince Hassan, married to late Indian chief justice Shri M Hidayatullah's niece, and instead made his son Abdullah the Crown Prince. Abdullah was the eldest son of the late king and his second wife Toni, a British citizen who embraced Islam and remained Queen of Jordan until 1972 when she and the late king divorced.

The US embassy in Amman, Jordan's capital, which I visited just before leaving in 1992, is like a fortress, replete with underground chambers. During the 1990- 91 Gulf crises and war, King Hussein adroitly remained neutral, much to the anger of the Anglo-Saxons, but the masses remained peaceful and under control. King Abdullah is not as nimble or experienced, and many Jordanians feel that he is siding with the Americans and extending them help, so there remains a danger to the throne. Such warnings were conveyed by attacks on the embassy of Jordan in Baghdad.

K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. Email Gajendrak@hotmail.com

(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication policies.)

BULENT ECEVIT -FOLLOWER OF GITA AND INTERPRETER OF GEETANJALI

2010-02-23T07:38:00.001-08:00

BULENT ECEVIT, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER IN THE NEW TURKISH GOVT.

                           FOLLOWER OF GITA AND INTERPRETER OF GEETANJALI

                                            Bulent Ecevit, twice Prime Minister in 1970s, now Deputy Prime Minister in the new secular Turkish govt, when in opposition a few months ago, during a Parliamentary debate praised India's democracy and its political leadership,for having got together from the very left to the right of the political spectrum to keep out the religious Bhartiya Janata party out of power , unlike in Turkey , where in a similar situation the secular party leaders had failed to remain together and had allowed Islamist Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan's Refah party to head a coalition with secularTrue Path party (DYP) of Deputy PM Tansu Ciller. Following the December 1995 Elections, in which Refah had won 160 seats out of 550 ,with the two secular right of center parties DYP of Ciller and Motherland Party ( Anap) of Mesut Yilmaz each getting around 130 seats each and Ecevit's left of center DSP 75 seats, the coaliton govt formed under pressure from secular elite , the West and the Armed Forces between Yilmaz and Ciller collapsed after a few months. The Refah led coalition with DYP formed in July 1996, resigned on 19 June , 1997 after only eleven months, after opposition from secular forces led by the Armed Forces., which accused the govt of promoting Islamic fundamentalism and threatened to intervene unless the Refah led govt quit.

                                 In 1974, on a visit to London I had switched on the BBC Television and saw Bulent Ecevit, then Prime Minister who had just sent the Turkish troops to Cyprus, where they still stay put, being interviewed. When asked what gave him the courage to send in the troops, which many other Turkish Prime Ministers in the past would have liked to do but dared not; apart from other reasons he said that he was encouraged by the teachings of Bhagavata Geeta ; if one is morally in a correct position, one should not hesitate to fight injustice against mighty and even against ones near and dear ones. Earlier I had read an interview in the International Herald Tribune , in which the interviewer remarked on the books in Ecevit's library and among others , he prominently pointed out the Geeta and Nehru's Glimpses of World History, which Ecevit said had affected him profoundly.

                                    Inspite of stereotyped   West promoted notion of the terrible Turk, following centuries of Crusades and Jihad between them, Turks are no different than other people and having never been enslaved are a proud people, who hold India and its leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi etc , Indian civilisation and culture and the democratic system in the highest regard., not withstanding their having been on the other side during the Cold War and their quid pro quo support to Pakistan on Kashmir, for the latter's support on Cyprus and other issues.

                       When I returned to Ankara in 1992, ( having been earlier in Turkey from 1969 to 1973) I requested Mr Ecevit to elucidate his views on Geeta's role in his decision to invade the Republic of Cyprus. He said that Turkey along with UK and Greece was one of the Guarantor powers in the Cypriot Constitution according to which , if a change was brought in the status of Cyprus, it could act with them to restore the situation. The Greek Cypriot leadership in league with Greece after a coup had declared unity with Greece ( Enosis ) and as Britain was dithering ( to take any action ),Turkey had no option but to protect Turkish Cypriots and its interests. As for Geeta's influence in his decison making he said that he abhorred violence in politics and even in international relations, but he was convinced that the situation created by the Greek Cypriots brought the Greek border with Turkey right into Cyprus and enlarged it. It would have led to constant tensions and perhaps a full scale war between Turkey and Greece. So with a heavy heart he ordered the military strike as he felt that he was morally right and the action   would ultimately produce less strife and violence in the long run.( While he was quoting Geeta in international media, we , ofcourse, because of our foreign policy compulsions were denouncing Turkish invasion in the UN and elsewhere).

                        Mr Ecevit mentiond Bhagvad Geeta again when I recalled his defeating the legendary and venerable leader Ismet Inonu ( whom Nehru had met in 1960 during his visit to Turkey ,inspite of the opposition of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes) in the contest for party leadership in 1972. Inonu was the right hand man of Kemal Ataturk,Turkey's liberator, founder and moderniser. Inonu became Turkey's President after Ataturk' death in 1938 ( and earlier was most of the time Prime minister ) and adroitly kept Turkey out of the Second World War-(if the Turks joined the Allies , they would be first overrun by the Nazis and then liberated by the Soviet Russians ) He played a vital role in Turkey's transition from one party rule to multiparty democracy.

After the 1971 Army ultimatum which forced Prime minister Suleyman Demirel to resign, Ecevit and Inonu had different perceptions of the political situation. Ecevit had opposed the ultimatum, while Inonu had acquiesced in,not to exacerbate the situation.at that juncture.Ecevit said that he had the greatest regard for Inonu, a father figure ( Bulent' s father was Inonu's personal physician and close friend) and who was his teacher and leader( like Dronacharya !) , but he differed from his teacher very strongly and in order to make up his mind and choose the right path , he again studied Geeta before taking up the poltical fight against Inonu..Inonu lost; he resigned from the party and died a year latter at the age of 89.

                        Ecevit was born at Istanbul in 1925 and as a young man took some Sanskrit lessons at the Indology department of Ankara University .Like our Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ecevit is a poet, but a leftist and had also worked as a journalist. Represening the coalminers of Black Sea coast town of Zonguldak,as a labour minister he gave the Turkish workers the right to strike for the first time in Turkey .He has translated Ezra Pound and TS Elliot.He was Prime Minister in 1974 and twice from 1977 to 1979. in coalition govts, once with Necemettin Erbakan, the first Islamist Prime Minister. In a military exercise Ecevit was greatly pained and concernrd with the agony of an injured horse, much to the disgust and chagrin of his Military Chief, Gen. Kenen Evren.

When Ecevit was posted as Cultural Attache in the Turkish Embassy in Londonin 1950s, His love for poetry and a philosophic bent of mind had brought him to the study of Rabindra Nath Tagore's Geetanjali and Bhagvata Geeta.. He learnt Sanskrit to better understand Geeta and Bengali to appreciate and translate Tagore's writings ( and he was surprised to find similarities between Turkish and Sanskrit and Bengali , not only in the vocabulary but in the syntax also). He said that he had translated only a few poems from Geetanjali. He would like to do more but his profession gave him little respite. Tagore's works, Geetanjali ( in full), Gora, Hungry Stones, the Gardener, Chitra ,Stray Birds etc ,perhaps more than 20 works have been translated into Turkish , most longtime ago, some recently.

In 1971, after the Military crackdown on leftists, mysteriously Upanishads, Geeta,Geetanjali etc were banned. On enquiries, it was revealed that these books were found along with writings of Karl Marx, Engels and Lenin in a leftists den and in the beauracracy as no one went through them , all were banned. The ban on Indian writings was soon lifted. ( During the early 1970s Naxalism and Kanu Sanyal and Charu Majumdar were seriously studied by the leftist students in Ankara )

                          Ecevit was invited by President Shankar Dayal Sharma to visit India during his visit to Turkey in 1993, but the continued and almost perennial political crisis in Turkey has not allowed him to come to India. He is of course very keen to visit Shantiniketan and listen to Bengali as it is spoken in Calcutta. And perhaps learn a thing or two from India's Deng Xiaoping , Jyoti Basu. Only Calcutta can have a Karl Marx street and a Siemen's street under the same regime.

PM Ecevit during his visit to India in 2000 went to Shantniketan where he was honoured for his work.

I hope this will add to the knowledge about Indo Turkish relations .
I am circulating it to some on my mailing list of over around 400 which comprises of ,politicians including ministers ,policy makers ,retired and active diplomats, civil servants , military officers, journalists ,think tanks, university professors, faculty at diplomatic and defence institutes, business consultants and others in India, US ,Turkey, Jordan ,Romania and many other countries .Exchanges with them keeps me up to date and on my toes. .
Cheers Gajendra 22 Feb 2010.Delhi

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Web-PotinVisitTky04

2010-02-22T07:42:00.001-08:00

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Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget

2010-02-22T07:33:00.001-08:00

Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget

Asia Times - Asia's most trusted news source for the Middle East
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh Before returning home,
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara in mid-July to ...
www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FG28Ak02.html - 67k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Turkey Post
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home,
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara in mid-July ...
www.turkeypost.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Sabah
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.sabah.com/ - 68k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

CIA FBI News
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Asia Times By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in A... ...
www.terrorwire.com/s/ciafbinews/ - 101k - 28 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

WN Europe
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.wneurope.com/ - 57k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Radio Turkey - live via internet!
... auxiliary were killed Monday by Kurdish rebels in an ambush i... Full Story Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home ...
radioturkey.com/ - 100k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Political Asia Daily
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Asia Times By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.politicalasia.com/ - 86k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Agriculture News
... made the allegations after raiding a state-owned farm in the k... Full Story Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.agriculturenews.com/ - 81k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Chinese America News
... Exporters such as Taiwan Semiconductor M... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive
and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy ...
www.chineseamericanews.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

London Globe
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home,
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara in mid-July ...
www.londonglobe.com/ - 80k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Heavy Industry News
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.heavyindustry.com/ - 77k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Africa FM
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.africafm.com/ - 81k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Gulf Hello
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.persiangulf.com/ - 76k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

WN Arabia
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.wnarabia.com/ - 58k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Uganda Daily
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.ugandadaily.com/ - 71k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Tamil Express
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.tamilexpress.com/ - 68k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

World Peace Report
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.worldpeacereport.com/ - 75k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Oil
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.oil.com/s/oil/tsindex.html - 66k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Arms Dealing
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.armsdealing.com/ - 79k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Chad Post
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Asia Times By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in A... ...
www.chadpost.com/ - 96k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Cairo Post
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.cairopost.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

NATO News
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.natonews.com/ - 69k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Tanzania News
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.tanzanianews.com/ - 77k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Jordan Post
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.jordanpost.com/ - 83k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Election Globe
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.electionglobe.com/ - 87k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Portugal Post
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.portugalpost.com/ - 67k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

World News Africa
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.worldnewsafrica.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Defence News
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Asia Times By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in A... ...
www.wn.com/s/defence/ - 70k - 28 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Madrid Post
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.madridpost.com/ - 69k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Arabian Radio
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.arabianradio.com/ - 71k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Radio Qatar
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
radioqatar.com/ - 66k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Back to the Future
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
backtothefuture.com/ - 78k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Palestine Life
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
palestinelife.com/ - 77k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

States of War
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.statesofwar.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Warsaw
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.warsaw.com/ - 79k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.chicagoindustry.com/ - 100k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Middle East Post
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
middleeastpost.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Changing China
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.changingchina.com/ - 72k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Pentagon News
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.pentagonnews.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Angola TV
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
angolatv.com/ - 69k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Paris Hello
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.parishello.com/ - 71k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Offshore Emirates
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
offshoreemirates.com/ - 70k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Punjab Globe
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.punjabglobe.com/ - 66k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

World Arab
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.worldarab.com/ - 71k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Hindustan Post
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
hindustanpost.com/ - 74k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

India News Agency
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.indianewsagency.com/ - 75k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Asia Action
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.asiaaction.com/ - 79k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar page

Sahara Daily
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.saharadaily.com/ - 67k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Italia Times
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.italiatimes.com/ - 74k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

London Hello
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home,
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara in mid-July ...
www.londonhello.com/ - 84k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Nigeria FM
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
nigeriafm.com/ - 74k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

World Global Risks
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home,
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara in mid-July ...
worldglobalrisks.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Indo Asia TV
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.indoasiatv.com/ - 92k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Tokyo Hello
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.tokyoglobe.com/ - 72k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Mozambique TV
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.mozambiquetv.com/ - 76k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Offshore Namibia
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.offshorenamibia.com/ - 69k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

India Telemedia
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.indiatelemedia.com/ - 81k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Riyadh Inc - Riyadh Business News
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.riyadhinc.com/ - 76k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Uttar Post
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.uttarpost.com/ - 77k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Culture Asia
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.cultureasia.com/ - 82k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Israel Daily
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.israeldaily.com/s/israeldaily/tsindex.html - 68k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Hello Beirut
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.hellobeirut.com/ - 67k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Punjab Life
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.punjablife.com/ - 74k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Ahmedabad News
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.ahmedabadnews.com/ - 84k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Hindu Post
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home,
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara in mid-July ...
hindufm.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

SEACOR
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.seabrokers.com/ - 79k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Uganda TV News
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.ugandanetwork.com/ - 79k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Paris Confidential
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.parisconfidential.com/ - 60k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Africa Business Daily
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.africabusinessdaily.com/ - 91k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Bombay Life
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.ellebombay.com/ - 79k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Saudi TV News
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.sauditvnews.com/ - 70k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Goa Post
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.goapost.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Europe World News
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
europeworldnews.com/ - 86k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Barcelona FM
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.barcelonafm.com/ - 70k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Saudi Post
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.saudipost.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Dammam
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.dammam.com/ - 67k - 28 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Suez Canal
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.suezcanal.com/ - 76k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Moscow Hello
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.moscowhello.com/ - 76k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Scrap
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Asia Times By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.scrap.com/ - 66k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Arabia Media
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.arabiamedia.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Bosnia Post
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.bosniapost.com/ - 62k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

West Asia FM
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
westasiafm.com/ - 75k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Cairo Star
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.cairostar.com/ - 65k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Radio Warsaw
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.radiowarsaw.com/ - 86k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Middle East Daily
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
middleeastdaily.com/ - 87k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Jordan Globe
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.jordanglobe.com/ - 74k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Oman Star
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.omanstar.com/ - 73k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Terror Wire
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.terrorwire.com/s/terrorwire/tsindex.html - 69k - 28 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Africa Daily
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.africadaily.com/ - 82k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

World Protest
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.worldprotest.com/ - 84k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Europe Daily
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Asia Times Turkey, Israel aim to forgive
and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime ...
europedaily.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Israel Post
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Asia Times By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in A... ...
www.israelpost.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Calcutta Life
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.calcuttalife.com/ - 69k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Gujarat Post
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.gujaratpost.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Hindustan Life
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
hindustanlife.com/ - 77k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Cross Cultural News
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
crossculturalnews.com/ - 75k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Tehran
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.tehran.com/ - 80k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Boker Tov, Boulder!
... Arabs, he consistently states that his aim is the ... them Jews, were killed, Dagan said
Israel had no ... Istanbul, only general alerts of possible attacks in Turkey. ...
www.zioneocon.blogspot.com/ 2003_11_16_zioneocon_archive.html - 101k - Cached - Similar pages

Jerusalem Business
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.jerusalembusiness.com/ - 88k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Andhra Pradesh News
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Asia Times By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.andhrapradeshnews.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Hello Bombay
... Full Story Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.hellobombay.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

News Arab World
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.arabenews.com/ - 81k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Uttar Pradesh News
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Asia Times By K Gajendra Singh | Before
returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was in Ankara ...
www.uttarpradeshnews.com/ - 101k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Zimbabwe FM
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
zimbabwefm.com/ - 71k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Iraq Daily
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.iraqdaily.com/s/iraqdaily/tsindex.html - 83k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Online Oman
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.onlineoman.com/ - 73k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Media Frankfurt
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Turkey,
Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.mediafrankfurt.com/ - 69k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Istanbul News
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.istanbulnews.com/ - 65k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Syria Life
... Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget
By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning home, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister ...
www.syrialife.com/ - 83k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Bollywood Confidential
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
www.bollywoodconfidential.com/ - 62k - 27 Jul 2004 - Cached - Similar pages

Breakfast Africa
... Israel aim to forgive and forget Iraq Israel Palestine Photos Turkey, Asia Times
Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget By K Gajendra Singh | Before returning ...
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CONTRIBUTION OF TURKIC LANGUAGES IN THE EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENTOF HINDUSTANI LANGUAGES

2010-02-06T21:33:00.000-08:00

CONTRIBUTION OF TURKIC LANGUAGES

IN THE EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF

HINDUSTANI LANGUAGES

CONTRIBUTION OF TURKIC LANGUAGES IN THE EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENTOF HINDUSTANI LANGUAGES. K.Gajendra Singh. 1. The term Hindustan ... http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/turkish.html

Although the influence of the Turkic languages on Indian languages began in all seriousness from ..... Boloji.com is owned and managed by Boloji Media Inc ...
http://www.boloji.com/history/023.htm

Türk İşbirliği Ve Kalkınma İdaresi Başkanlığı
... Ahmet Mutahir, Avrupa-Orta Asya İlişkileri. Singh K. Gajendra, Türki
Dillerin Hindustani Dillerin Evrimi ve Gelişmesine Katkısı. ...
www.tika.gov.tr/yayinlar_etudler2.asp?ID=5 - 22k - Cached - Similar pages

SOME COMMENTS

-in your excellent paper... your brilliant historical research--- .

PN Haksar.; Principal Advisor to PM Indira Gandhi,

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission of India, Diplomat etc.

Thanks for your scholarly thesis.... I read with renewed interest your paper on the influence of Turkish on our language....... - a lot of erudition has gone into it-- we can discuss it when you come to Delhi.....

S. Khuswant Singh; Historian, writer , journalist, member of Parliament .

“I read the article with great interest, since precisely the same thing had been one of the main discoveries of my own earlier research into the phenomenon of India ( South Asia ) as a * linguistic area * , culminating in a book (1976) and several articles The “discovery” was that many putative “South Asian “ features turn out, if we only deign to examine their full distributions , to extend beyond the sub-continent, and to be shared with the languages of Central Asia in particular.

It seems you have with very astute observation independently discovered many of the same shared features I noted , plus a few additional ones.

Colin P. Masica, Professor Emeritus , South Asian Languages & Civilizations and Linguistics ,University of Chicago.

I read your paper with great interest... the most comprehensive study of the South Asian ‘linguistic area’ was done by Prof. Colin Masica, University of Chicago...in his book... you might find another of his books quite informative...

Prof. Alice Davison , Dept of Linguistics, University of Iowa.

Thank you.. for the very interesting enclosure.. shown to ..Dr Erica Gilson, who ,specialises in Turkish Linguistics and has shown great interest..

Prof. Bernard Lewis, Princeton University , New Jersey.

... I am very much interested in’” languages in contact” and how , in addition to lexical borrowings, languages of different typologies may be affected. As you correctly point out. very little systematic research has been carried out regarding the relationship between the languages of the sub- continent and the Turkic languages ....Perhaps we can pursue the matter jointly..

Prof. Erika H. Gilson, Princeton University., New Jersey.

Thank you... for the interesting and intriguing paper.....I have very much enjoyed reading your article. You have laid out the issues with great clarity, and in a way which helps to remove the current distortions brought to the field of language use in India ...Your specific comments on similarities between Hindustani and Turkish are also very interesting...

Dr. Rupert Snell , Head of Department of Languages and Cultures of South Asia.

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. .

I found your article very informative, and I was quite amazed to learn about the Turkic influences on Hindustani, though it makes sense, and I entirely agree with you that linguistic interaction and translation proceeds differently from the imposition of foreign rule...

Gyan Prakash, Associate Professor, Dept. of History , Princeton University.

I find your paper both scholarly and interesting( and agree entirely with your opening remarks regarding the artificiality of the Hindi / Urdu divide ...)

Philip Lutgendorf , Associate Prof. of Hindi and Modern Indian Studies, . . Iowa University, Iowa..

I am grateful for the off-print of your fascinating article in the “Foreign Policy” It looks very impressive. I do hope you will continue to conduct further studies on this highly interesting topic and publish them.

Talat S. Halman, Chairman, Dept of Near Eastern Languages and Literature

New York University, New York.

..I read with profit and pleasure ..your article agree that there is a great deal of ignorance about the influence of Turkic languages on the languages of India. I know of no study which explores this influence in a serious manner and you have certainly taken an important step...

Feroz Ahmed, Prof. of History & University Research Professor,

University of Massachusetts, Boston.

--the erudite Ambassador of the Republic of India in Ankara K. Gajendra Singh has prepared a very interesting cultural study on the influence of Turkic languages on Indian languages , suggestive of the linguistic integration in South Asia.

Seyfi Tashan , Director , Foreign Policy Institute, Ankara.

... The issues raised. by the author ....are relevant to scholars and students of linguistics and to those who wish to work on the history and grammar of Hindustani.. serious paper ..on a hitherto little explored area of linguistic relation ship between Turkish and Hindustani in a Historical perspective.

Prof. Suraj Bhan Singh, Chairman , Commission for Scientific and

Technical Commission, Dept of Education, Govt of India, New Delhi

Sent and published in the quarterly Journal of The Foreign Policy Institute , Ankara and “Eurasia ” , journal ( in Turkish and English version ) published by TICA ,Turkish Govt. Agency for Cooperation . Permission conveyed to “ Man and Development “, India .

Reproduced in Turkish Daily News, Ankara , Forum, Azeri Magazine and “Siyasat” , Urdu Daily , Heyderabad, India. Mentioned in “ Spanish language and the World” by the University of Valladolid, Spain. Criticised in Turkish fundamentalist media.

The article has been made available on internet by Universities etc in US, Turkey and India since 1995

Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. Get it now.

Illustrated ;A Sweep through history and Time -.Asia Minor/Anatolia/Turkey

2010-01-11T09:11:00.001-08:00

A SWEEP THROUGH HISTORY AND TIME

15 DAYS IN TURKEY

TAAC Newsletter, 97 December
... Excellent reading about the region. Back to top. Full article is available on the
web. A sweep through history and time - 15 days in Turkey. by K. Gajendra Singh ...
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A sweep through history and time - 15 days in Turkey by K. Gajendra Singh

Mr. Gajendra Singh is a former ambassador of India To Turkey who settled in Ankara after retirement. He represents major Indian papers.
In his article Mr. Singh takes the reader through a tour of Turkey while narrating the history of localities. It is a must reading for people interested in history, ancient ruins and peoples.
Download this article from our WWW location and give it to people who are interested more about what Turkey can offer: Hittite, Urartian, Byzantine, Roman, Greek, Seljuk, Ottoman Islamic to Christian, Cleopatra with Anthony...

Full article is available on the web.
Back to top

TURKPULSE ............................AUGUST 26th, 2000

( Also published by Turkish Daily News,Ankara , without daily program in 1997)

A SWEEP THROUGH HISTORY AND TIME

15 DAYS IN TURKEY

Amb (Retd) K. Gajendra Singh

(Guest Writer)

A cascade of slim minarets piercing the Istanbul skyline comes to mind, when most people think of Turkey or the memories of the terrible Turks from the days of Janissaries and Crusades, when in 1453 the Byzantine capital Constantinople became the Ottoman Istanbul, with the 6th century magnificent St. Sophia Church converted into a mosque (but the Ottoman architects could never get away from its conceptual construct). Apart from the famed Topkapi and the Dolmabahce Palaces with their unmatched treasures and other Ottoman monuments, Istanbul has monuments and ruins from its millennium and half long Roman and Byzantine past (Turkey has more Greek monuments than Greece and more Roman sites than Italy). But this sweep does not encompass Istanbul nor all historic Christian places, ie Chalcedon, Nicomedea, Nicea or all the churches of revelation; for, Asia Minor as Turkey was then known was also a cradle of Christianity. Nor Testament's Mount Ararat and Noah's Ark with ruins of beautiful Armenian Churches and Urartian monuments in the region of Kars and Van. Nor the fabled Pontus Trabzon nor Sumela monastry on the Black Sea coast of the Golden Fleece, whence emerged Xenophon and his ten thousand after an arduous journey through Kurdish speaking lands. Nor Divrigi, with its masterpieces of pre-Ottoman architecture. Or Amazon Queen founded Sinop, the birthplace of cynic Diogenes who told off Alexander the Great for shutting out his sunlight. Nor even Bursa and Edirne, the first two capitals of the Ottoman Sultans.

Starting from the Republic's historic capital Ankara, we pass by the Phyrigian Gordion (of its knot and oracle), the capital city of King Midas of the golden touch; birthplace and tomb of Nassreddin Hoja (Shiekh Chilli); Sardis in West Turkey, the Lydian capital and Persian Acheamenean Empire's outpost in Ionia (from which came the word Yunan ), of rich as King Croesus and the golden fleece; Troy of Helen, Achillies, Paris and Priam and across the Dardenelles Galipoli; where thousands of Indian soldiers lie buried from WW1; Assos, facing the island of Lesbos, where Aristotle taught; Bergama of physician Galen, a rival city to Ephesus, Antioch and Alexandria, the first two being in Turkey. Also Izmir, the old Smyrna, Homer's birth place (where Aristotle Onasis also lived) and the richest architectural site Ephesus, the Carian city of St Paul's church, Virgin Mary is believed to be buried nearby (Scylax, from whose navigation of Indus for Darius, the West knew first of India, was from Caryanda, also a Carian city); Priene, the spectacular Ionian city, whose oracle along with neighbouring Didim's was as well known as Delphi's.

We then move to Miletus of 6th century BC, of the first thinkers. Thales, Anneximender, Anneximenes, spiritual forefathers of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, where the Greek and Western philosophy germinated, also of Hecataeus, who in touch with Persians wrote about India, and then come to Bodrum, the ancient Halicarnassus, birth place of Herodotus, father of history, with a Crusader castle and the first funeral monument called Mausoleum in memory of King Mausolus. Not far is Aphrodisias, excavated only in the 1980s with temples of Aphrodite and Hierapolis and its cotton castles. We pass by old Lycian cities, Knidos, Telmessus, Pinara, Letoonia of goddess Leto, Artemis; Xanthus, where women committed Jauhar (set themselves on fire) against the Persians in 5th century BC, Patara of its famous oracle, also the birthplace of St Nicholas (Santa Claus), whose Church is not far away at Demre. Then soon in Pamphylia comes Yanartas, with remains of fire snorting Chimera killed by Belerophon flying on a winged horse Pegasus (Mobil's logo). Then to Phaselis with Roman and Byzantine harbours; Antalya founded by Attalus II, ruled in turn by Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Seljuk and Ottoman Turks as were so many places in Turkey, with a fluted minaret, like a section of Delhi's Qutub Minar; Perge, with ruins of temples of Zeus, Artemis; Aspendos, and its theatre ,where today's concerts hold 20,000 persons; Side with temples of Athena, Appollo; Alanya's castle and its golden beach - Mark Antony got the sand from Egypt to charm Cleopatra.

Then after a beautiful drive come up to the plateau plains of Konya (old Christian Iconium of first Lady Saint Theckla), of whirling Dervishes of Jalaluddin Rumi, the capital of the Seljuks, with their masterpieces; Catal Huyuk of proto-earth mother goddess, 8000 years old, one of the earliest towns. Then down past Alharan monastry, along river Goksu, where Holy Roman Emperor drowned ending the 3rd Crusade. Go further down to Cilicia; Silifke and ethereal Kizkalesi with its legends; Olba, of temple of Tyche, goddess of Fortune, mausoleum of Priape, god of fertility and illegitimate son of Zeus and Aphrodite. Nearby is the site of Heaven and Hell with its Chapel of Virgin Mary and the cave of scaly fire breathing monster Python; Viranshir (Soli), birth place of Chrisipus, founder of the earliest Stoic school in 3rd century BC.

After passing by the modern port of Mersin, come to Tarsus, birth place of St Paul, where Cleopatra seduced Mark Antony. Up north in the mountains are Cilician gates, from where Alexander ( & other conquerors going east or west) passed through to the Cukurova plains, littered with Crusader castles; Issus, where Alexander defeated Darius III in 333 BC. After crossing the Syrian gates and passing by Ottoman mosques and medresses, come to Antakya (ancient Antioch) on river Orantes founded by Sileucus Nikator (who knew well Chandra Gupta Maurya), with its most magnificent collection of mosaics. Here followers of Jesus were called Christians for the first time, St Peter and St Paul first preached here. It changed hands between Persians, Arabs, Byzantines and others. Down south Cleopatra married Mark Antony and there is a village where Moses came to meet prophet Hizir.

After Gaziantep, comes later day 8th BC capital of Hittites, Carchemis, conquered by Assyrian King Saragon II and then Urfa, where prophet Abraham stayed before going on to Cannan (buried in Hebron), it is also ancient Edessa, founded by Alexander's Macedonians, where the first large Christain community grew, seat of Crusader Kingdom of Baldwin I.Here Greek works were translated into Syriac and Aramaic and later into Arabic and thus preserved, veritably a city of mosques and churches. To the south is Harran with its beehive looking houses, the play ground of prophets Jacob and others, where Roman Emperor Crassus was defeated by the Parthians. This is upper Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilisations, where the prevedic Sanskrit speaking and Aryan gods worshipping Indo-Aryans ruled their Mitanni Kingdom from 1500 to 1200 BC.

Go up north via Nemrut Dagi, of King Commagene, who brought together eastern Persian and western Roman gods, with larger than life size statues of Apollo, Tyche, Zeus, Hercules and Mithradates on a mountain top, also a temple of goddess Cybel. Leaving Salahaddin's Diyarbakir after a long drive past carpet making center Bunyan and Kayseri (old Ceasara Mazaca) come to the famous Cappadoccia with its moon-like landscape, fairy chimneys and 3000 rock churches with six-level underground cities, where Christians hid from Roman persecution. Then after visiting Sivas, take a detour via Zile, where Julius Ceaser uttered 'Veni, vidi, vichi' and on to the old Pontus Kingdom Amasya, on river Yesilirmak reminding of Srinagar, birth place of geographer Strabo and an important Hellenic, Byzantine and Ottoman center. Then to Bogazkoy, with its magnificent capital and impregnable Citadel, the center of Indo-European Hittite civilisation from 1900 BC to 1100 BC, who ruled right up to Babylon, Palestine and the Aegean Sea. Cuneiform tablets found here (and Tel Amarna in Egypt) throw light on the Mitanni Kingdom and preserved treaties refering to gods Varuna, Indra, Mitra etc and a Mitanni treatise on horse training using Sanskrit phrases (can be seen in Istanbul Archeological Museum). The supposed Mitanni capital Wassukkani between Mardin and Diyarbakir is yet to be discovered.

DAY BY DAY PROGAMME

DAY-1 ANKARA ( Capital since 1923) - Polatli - Turko Greek War memorial. GORDIUM - Alexander the Great cuts the Gordian knot in 333 BC. PHRYGIAN kingdom capital, Tomb of KING MIDAS (around 800 BC), the tomb and an adjoining Museum can be visited. Also the city of Gordium, being excavated. Village of NASRETTIN HOCA Sivrihisar (old 19th century Armenian church) PESSINOS (20 km off Sivrihisar) centre of Roman GALATIA, temple of CYBELE- MIDAS CITY (Yazil Kaya) Aslantash. AFYONHISAR. Afyon Castle - wooden SELJUK mosque. Lunch at Ikbal Restaurant. SARDIS - inhabited for 5000 years - capital of LYDIAN EMPIRE. Prostitution allowed to earn dowry. Later major Roman city - Temple of many-breasted ARTEMIS (200 BC). Last of the KING CROESUS (rich as Croesus), first minted coins of gold and silver - legend of the GOLDEN FLEECE. One of the Seven churches, Akhisar, the old THYATRA - another Lydian city. Go to BALIKESIR. Rest.

DAY 2 GRANICUS (GONEN river); ALEXANDER Kills Darius III's two Persian commanders - Canakkale on straits of Dardanelles - across Gallipoli of WW1. Troy of Trojan horse and war, ILLIAD, HELEN, AGAMEMNON, CLYTEMNESTEA, PARIS, ODYSSUS, Troy VII was city of PRIAM. There are at least 7 layers of cities on Troy controlling the entry to DARDANELLES and MARMARA sea and BLACK SEA COAST. BABAKALE - Westernmost point of Asia Minor, Bahramkale (ASSOS) - Temple of ATHENA - Socrates taught here - can see across to the Greek island of LESBOS - AYVALIK - a Greek town (till 1923) - Bergama (PERGAMUN) – old HELLENISTIC city - rival to EPHESUS, ANTIOCH and ALEXANDRIA (in Egypt) in ancient times.

DAY 3 Visit to Pergamun Ruins (originals in Berlin Museum). Parchment invented after Egyptians cut off - AESCLEPIOS - God of Medicine. Birth place of Galen- physician and medical authority of ancient times - temple of Egyptian deities - BEYAZIT I (1398-99) monuments. Visit to Acroplis Sanctuary of DEMETER, Temple of ZEUS and ATHENA Polias Nikeperous - in DORIC style. Temple of TROJAN, theatre for 10,000. Candarli - with 13th century GENOESE fortres. Aliaga - AOELIAN city. Foca - 'PHOCAENS were pioneer navigators so said HERODOTUS. Manisa - old MAGNESIA - Izmir - old SMYRNA Ionians settled in 9th century BC. Others ie Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Seljuks, Crusaders, Ottomans and Tamurlane also came. Homer's birth place. He wrote Illiad and Odyssy here. Also city of Aristotle Onasis and French PM Ballandur – Kusadasi - Rest.

DAY 4 EPHESUS - Founded by Amazons - country of Carians. Temple of ARTEMIS (564-546 BC) - ALEXANDER visited in 334 BC Library of CELSUS - Church of EPHESUS built by ST. PAUL in AD 53 - Church of VIRGIN MARY - built in 2nd century AD - first church for Virgin Mary. Temple of SERAPIS - Temple of Hadrian, SELJUK Mosque - BASILICA OF ST. JOHN - ISA BEY MOSQUE. PRIENE - spectacular IONIAN city - 4th century BC. First Hellenistic city, temple of DIONYIAS Temple of Athena. Miletus of THALES, ANAXIMENDER, ANAXIMENES, Didyma -TEMPLE OF APPOLO - Head of MEDUSA. Alexander declared son of Zeus by local oracle. Lake Bafa - across HERAKLEA and Latmos

DAY 5 Bodrum - ancient HALICARNASSUS - birthplace of historian Herodotus - father of history, according to West. In ancient times part of DORIAN Confederacy. Crusader castle of ST. PETER (Petronium - from which comes Bodrum). Castle of Knights of ST JOHN - a major landmark. Also the first MAUSOLEUM (funeral monument) - one of the SEVEN WONDERS of the world - in memory of King MAUSOLUS, built by his widow. Now a popular Bohemian resort MILAS, temple of ZEUS. APRODISIAS - named after Goddess APHRODITE - excavated in 1980s so most things are intact. Huge theatre, stadium for 30 000. Beautiful statues in the Museum. Pamukkale (cotton castle), shimmering white cascades formed by limestone laden hot springs which have formed stalactites potholes and cotton made architecture. Nearby HIERAPOLIS - ruins over miles, founded by Eumenes II of Pergamun. This was destroyed in first century, but rebuilt in 2nd/3rd centuries and we see the ruins from there. Sleep at Pamukkale.

DAY 6 Mugla-Marmaris - Beautiful harbour and resting point for yachts.

DATCA - Knidos. Temple of APHRODITE by PRAXITELES (390 -30 BC). Dalyan - famous beach for giant LOGGERHEAD TURTLES. Pass by Fethiye big resort town - KAYA( known as Kormylassos) - an eerie ghost town of Greeks who left for Greece in 1920s (1.5 million left for Greece and half million Turks came) Oludeniz (Dead Sea). Sleep Fethiye.

DAY 7 Visit TELMESSUS an old LYCIAN city (6th century BC) old name of Fethiye - rock tombs - now a beautfiul city in a calm protected bay.

PINARA - an ancient city existing since Trojan war (1200 BC) church, theatre, tombs in mountain heights. LETOON -Temples of Goddess LETO, ARTEMIS

and APPOLO. Mosaics of Lye, the sun, bow and arrow, only LYCIAN mosaics.

LETO, mistress of Zeus, whose wife HERA hounded her to exile. Gave births to ARTEMIS and APPOLO. XANTHUS- Ampi-theatre, HARPIS Tomb. PILLAR TOMBS - Lycian sarcaphagus covered by 250 lines of Lycian Greak poem. Earliest 'Johar' - when Persians attacked Xantus in 540 BC, Lycians set ablaze their wives and children then fought to the last man. Lycians repeated it in 42 BC, when Brutus arrived to raise money. PATARA - Birth place of SAINT NICHOLAS (SANTA CLAUS) Ruins of harbour, Granary of HADRIAN. Was famous for ORACLE of APPOLO, as famous as of DELPHI. Resort town of Kas. KALE (Myra) - here ST. NICHOLAS, the original Santa Claus was Bishop in 4th century AD. Myra has St. NICHOLAS 's Church, an Amptitheatre, most impressive rock tombs in whole of LYCIA. Sleep at Kale.

DAY 8 OLYMPUS: located in a gorge between two mountains, once a pirate hide-out. Piracy stamped out by Roman General Pompey 2000 years ago. Needs excavation. Ahmet tried to drive over the sand-got struck - had to bring a tractor to take out the car. Go on dust track to go to CHIRALI and walk up 40 minutes to YANARTAS, where tiny flames appear from rocks, which children try to stamp out. According to legend, these are the remains of CHIMERA, a snorting monster, with lion's head, goat's body and serpent's tail- killed by LYCIAN HERO BELEEROPHON, who flew over the mountains on his winged horse PEGASUS (Mobil Oils symbol). PHASELIS - an ancient Greek city at the top of peninsula - founded by RHODIANS in 690 BC or even earlier. Two harbours - ROMAN and BYZANTINE. Main avenue, theatre, baths, market temple etc. lovely warm water in end March, when one can see snow packed Olympus nearby. ANTALYA - a modern city with 5-star hotels and lovely beaches nearby. Founded by ATTALUS II, King of PERGUMUN (159-136 BC) ruled by ROMANS, BYZANTINES, SELJUK, TURKS, CRUSADERS and OTTOMANS since 1391. Italians occupied it (in 1919-21). Known for FLUTED MINARET ( built 1230 by Seljuk Alaeddin Kekubat). Many medresses, tombs and mosques. Ruins of TERMESSUS - a city Alexander could not conquer. During Roman and Byzantine days, a city of 150,000 - a city of PISIDIANS. Tomb of ALCETAS, Alexander's General defeated and killed here in 319 BC. Ruins of Temples of ZEUS, ARTEMIS etc. PERGE. -ASPENDOS - most well preserved Ampitheatre, seating 20,000 people, where concerts are held nowadays. Resort town of SIDE - very popular with Germans. Founded in 13th - l4th century BC. LYDIANS and PERSIANS occupied it. Conquered by ALEXANDER in 334 BC - Ruled by Selucid Ptolemies. Has Ampitheatres, temples of ATHENA and APOLLO. MEN (moon Goddess) - Visit ALANYA castle and Dalmatas Cave- Sleep Alanya.

DAY 9 Drive back. See ALARHAN ( Seljuks built it in l3th century). Drive

towards Konya through beautiful scenery. BEYSEHIR lake city has very old

wooden mosques. SILLE - ruins of CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL and spring dated 1732. KONYA - capital of Seljuk Empire between 1071 and 1308. Known as ICONIUM, ST. PAUL visited it many times. Visit ALAEDIN MOSQUE, KARATAY MEDRESE and Tekke of MAULANA JALALEDDIN RUMI, famous mystic, born in Afghanistan settled here (died 1273) whose WHIRLING DERVISHES have headquarters here. CATAL HOYUK - a stone-age town going back to 8000 years - STATUES OF MOTHER GODDESS AND FERTILITY - KARAMAN - ALAHAN - monastery of TARASIUS. MUT - here on river Goksu, Holy Roman Emperor BARBAROSSA drowned in 1190, while bathing, thus ended the THIRD CRUSADE. SILIFKE - old name SELUCIA and CALYCADMUM -one of 9 cities founded by Selucus Nicator in 3rd century BC. AYATEKLA, burial place of St. THECLA, Virgin and martyr, St. Paul's first woman convert. Sleep east of Silifke. Looking from your hotel at KIZKALESI. Ethereal when illuminated.

DAY 10 Visit OLBA ( 30 km north of Silifke) conglomeration of HELLENISTIC. ROMAN, BYZANTINE remains. Temple of TYCHE, goddess of Fortune - Mausoleum of PARIAPE- God of Fertility - Priape, illegitimate son of Zeus and Aphrodite. Zeus's zealous wife Hera deformed the child giving him a Phallus equal to his height. NARLIKUYU mosaic of THREE GRACES, daughters of Zeus - HEAVEN AND HELL. Go down 452 stairs to chapel dedicated to VIRGIN MARY. In the end come to PYTHON'S Cave, home of scaly, frightening, fire breathing monster. Also this gloomy pit is known as HELL. Viransehir (POMPEIOPOLIS) earliest place for Stoics. Also known as Soli, birth place of Chrysipus, founder of Stoic school of philosophy in 3rd century BC. He wrote 750 books on Stoicism. MERSIN, a big port. TARSUS birth place of St. PAUL - history going back to 14th century BC. Visit St. PAUL ARCH. CLEOPATRA's GATE, Cave of Seven Sleepers. Here CLEOPATRA seduced MARK ANTONY. Just north of Tarsus is mountain pass CILICIAN GATES, Xerxes and his 100,000 men and Alexander the Great passed through it. ADANA in the middle of CILICIAN PLAINS, called CHUKUROVA. Great Cotton Textile and Industrial Centre. Visit Roman Bridge built by HADRIAN. Ulu Cami (1507) by ruler of Ramzanoglu Turks - 90 miles South East of Adana - port of Ayas, visited by MARCO POLO. East of Adana are many Crusader Castles, like Toprakkale, Gulek Castle etc. DORTYOL (ISSOS). Here Alexander defeated Persian Armies under Darius III in 333 BC. Darius fled leaving behind his harem. It opened the whole of Asia for Alexander. PAYAS - OTTOMAN mosque, Madress complex of Sokullu Mehmet by Mimar Sinan. Also 13th century CRUSADER CASTLE. A few more on the way - Syrian Gates or Balen pass. Bagras castle (Byzantine) - Antakya (Antiochus) on river Orantes.

DAY 11 Antakya (by Selecus Nikatar in 300 BC). Roman province in 81 BC. A great city of antiquity. Mosaic museum. Perhaps the best in the world.

Jesus' followers first came to be known as 'Christians' here. St Paul's first

Ministry. Grotto where St Peter first preached. His church. Occupied by

Byzantines, Persians and Arabs and Crusaders. Shrine of DAPHNE, 20 km

towards Samandag. Here CLEOPATRA was married toMARK ANTONY. Monuments to God APOLLO Samandag - Mountain of St. Simeon. Also visit the port Seleucia Pieria. Kept in order by flushing of water brought through a canal hewed out of rock. TUNNEL OF VESPIAN. And tombs of Roman notables in the hills. Also HIDIRBEY village, with Prophet HIZIR'S TREE. Moses met Hizir in this place. Time now to go to Gaziantep via Hassa and Islahiye. Ataturk added GHAZI TO ANTEP, when this town fought valiantly against the French Troops in WWI. Stay for night.

DAY 12 Visit CARCHEMISH - modern day Barak. HITTITE CAPITAL till eight century BC - conquered by ASSYRIAN KING SARGON II (722-705 BC) Battle ground between Pharaoh Neco against NEBUCHADNEZZAR, CHALDIAN KING OF BABYLON. Two thousand years later Khedive Ismail of Egypt gave Ottomans a crushing defeat. Pass by Nizip - Birecik - old Apamea. MARK ANTONY made a disasterous campaign against PARTHIANS in 36BC. URFA - the old EDESSA. Here PROPHET ABRAHAM stayed before he left for CANAAN. Mosque complex around Abraham cave, pool which saved ABRAHAM when thrown into it (a fire) by King NIMROD. Edessa is full of history. Eastern capital of NICATOR kingdom. GREEK WORKS TRANSLATED INTO SYRIAC/ARAMAIC - later into Arabic.Thus knowledge

saved. Crusader City under BALDWIN I. Mongols destroyed Edessa in 13th Century. One can visit the Citadel, old churches and mosques. First biggest community of Christians after Antioch. HARRAN South of Urfa - Old Northern Mesopotania. Famous for Beehive houses. FIRST MOSQUE IN ASIA MINOR. The play ground of Prophets - Jacob and others. Temple of Sin-Moon God (first university in ancient times). Here REBECCA drew water for JACOB, Roman Emperor CRASSUS defeated by PARTHIANS. With waters from Ataturk Dam, will become a breadbasket again.

DAY13 Start early. Pass by to see Ataturk Dam, biggest hydro-electric

project in Turkey. Go to Eski Kahta. NEMRUT DAGI (MOUNT NEMRUT),

COMMAGENE's ruler Antiochus I's final resting palace. A tiny independent

state between ROME and PARTHIA But marvellous life size statues of KINGS and GODS - WESTERN AND EASTERN, APOLLO, TYCHE (Fortune) ZEUS and HERCULES. GOD MITHIRA of light and darkness - caves for worship of CYBELE. A Roman bridge built by Emperor SEPTIMUS SEVERUS and in use an old SELJUK bridge. Come back to Adyaman and drive to Kahraman Maras, famous for ice cream, and to stay.

DAY 14 Another early start - drive by BUNYAN - old carpet centre -KAYSERI - ancient CEASAREA MAZACA. Go around CAPPADOCIA - Urgup - Derinkuyu - AVANOS. Part of Hellenic kingdoms and Roman Empire. Amazing landscape. Nearby Erciyes, (1300 ft. high mountain - ARGAUS), 3rd highest in Turkey, converted the surrounding landscape with the torrent of lava, in one of the great upheavels on earth. Later, nature's jewellers rain, snow, floods, winds and heat created deep valleys, fissures, cones and columns and high chimneys. Veritably a lunar landscape. Several of earliest church fathers lived in this area. There are 3000 ROCK CHURCHES caved out of THESE COLUMNS and FAIRYTALE SCULPTURES. Ihlara, deep valley has churches on the sides. Then there are underground cities (8 storeys) hewn inside the rock for Christians to escape Romans, later Arab invaders. Drive to SIVAS and sleep there.

DAY 15 Start early again. Visit the Mosques and drive to TOKAT and a

detour of ZILE (where Julius Ceaser on defeating son of MITHIRADATES in 4

hours said: "Veni Vedi Vici". An old Seljuk mosque. Drive along Yesilirmak

river. Lovely scenery. Lunch at AMASYA - birth place of Geographer STRABO - A scenic ancient town on Yesilirmak - reminds of Srinagar houses on Jhelum. Rock tombs of PONTUS KINGS. Important HELLENESTIC, BYZANTINE and OTTOMAN centre. Vast old Mederese, Turbe of Danishmand period. Complex of Beyazit II mosque and Mederse, etc. Leave via Chorum to ALACAHOYUK, YAZILKAYA and BOGAZKALE. Central area of Hittite civilisation from 1900 BC to 1100 BC. In 1930 was discovered at Alacahoyuk, SUN DISK now symbol of ANKARA. The Sphinx Gate. Yazilkaya (written on rock) from 1275 BC to 1220 BC, Shrine of Hittite emperors. Succession of dieties wearing. long conical caps march out. Hittites had 1000s gods. Many Gods have Hurrian and Hatti names. From Bogazkoy (Hattusa), Hittites' capital, they ruled a vast empire, south up to CYPRUS & AEGEAN. A majestic city. Visit KING'S GATE and LION'S GATE. Yerkapi 200 feet long tunnel under the wall. Well protected CITADEL. GREAT temple. More than 3000 cuneiform tablets found. One tablet on Treaty of Peace quoted pre-Vedic Indian Gods like Varuna, Indira , Mitra, Natasya etc. Another has a treatise on horse-training by a MITTANI, closer to pre Vedic SANSKRIT. MITTANIS, an Indo Aryan aristocracy ruled in South East of Turkey and North Syrian region. Return to Ankara - really tired but exhilarated. What a lot to see and comprehend in just 15 days.

What more can one see and learn in 15 days; for, Turkey was cradle and center for over 40 civilisations and intermingling of culture from Europe, Africa, Central Asia & the Middle East , some of them being, Hittite, Mitanni, Assyrian, Upper Mespotamian, Phyrigian, Urartian, Armenian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman etc, with 3000 ancient cities and over 50,000 ancient monuments, graves, caves, mounts etc even in a fast action packed itinerary. The author has visited all places mentioned (many more than once), though not at a stretch. Often at equally hectic pace. To go around Turkey again was a major attraction for the second posting as Ambassador during 1992-96, (the first was in 1969-73). But there are still many places to visit; Van, Ani of the Armenian Churches, Kars of mystic Gurdjieff, Divrigi of pre-Ottoman masterpieces and Dogubeyazit, with its 'fossil' Ark and a climb up to Mount Ararat (although videotaped and photographed from air).

K.Gajendra Singh –Former Indian Ambassador to Turkey (1992-96) year 1996 ,Ankara

Prints

1 Inside Harem of Topkapi -Istanbul

Bosphorous and bridge connecting Europe and Asia

Covered bazar-, Istanbul

2 Priene, the spectacular Ionian city of Greeks

Whirling Dervishes of Jalaluddin Rumi of Konya (old Christian Iconium)

3 Antakya (Antioch) Grotto where St Peter held the first mass

Trojan horse at Troy of Helen, Achillies, Paris and Priam

4 Mardin, an ancient city on hill – , beyond the plains of Euphrates and Tigris

Salahaddin's Diyarbakir, Kurds stong hold – street scene with Armenian and other chuches

Hassn Kief of Salahaddin's dynasty –on river Tigris , now submerged by a dam

Hittite ( from1900 -1100 BC) Bogazkale impregnable Citadel on windy highlands ( my hair !!)

5 Amasya founded by an Amazon Queen , birth place of geographer Strabo

Ephesus library -the richest architectural site, the Carian city of St Paul's church

King Midas ( of golden touch ) City

6 Urfa, ancient Edessa where prophet Abraham stayed before going on to Cannan

Sinop founded by an Amazon Queen ,the birthplace of cynic Diogenes

Sumela monastry on the Black Sea coas, where Xenophon emerged with 10,000.

7 Sardis of King Croesus, the Lydian capital and Persian Acheamenean Empire's outpost

Kizkalsi on Cilicia with romantic legend

Theatre down the hill -Bergama of physician Galen

9 Theatre at Hierapolis near Pamukkale

Miletus of 6th century BC, of the first Greek thinkers. Thales, Anneximender, Anneximenes

10 Nemrut Dagi, of King Commagene, Self among Persian and western Roman gods

Note! some of the prints may not be very good becuase of poor film and development !!

TARAFITS Archives - Turkey & Central Asia

Influence of Buddhism on Islam

Influence of Buddhism on Islam

Turkey and the Central Asian ethnic octopus

FOUNDATION FOR INDO-TURKIC STUDIES

BULENT ECEVIT -FOLLOWER OF GITA AND INTERPRETER OF GEETANJALI

Web-PotinVisitTky04

Turkey, Israel aim to forgive and forget

CONTRIBUTION OF TURKIC LANGUAGES IN THE EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENTOF HINDUSTANI LANGUAGES

Illustrated ;A Sweep through history and Time -.Asia Minor/Anatolia/Turkey

A SWEEP THROUGH HISTORY AND TIME

15 DAYS IN TURKEY

TAAC Newsletter, 97 December... Excellent reading about the region. Back to top. Full article is available on the web. A sweep through history and time - 15 days in Turkey. by K. Gajendra Singh ... www.taaca.org/data/199712-html.html - 36k - Cached - Similar pages

TURKPULSE ............................AUGUST 26th, 2000

( Also published by Turkish Daily News,Ankara , without daily program in 1997)

A SWEEP THROUGH HISTORY AND TIME

15 DAYS IN TURKEY

Amb (Retd) K. Gajendra Singh

DAY BY DAY PROGAMME

TAAC Newsletter, 97 December
... Excellent reading about the region. Back to top. Full article is available on the
web. A sweep through history and time - 15 days in Turkey. by K. Gajendra Singh ...
www.taaca.org/data/199712-html.html - 36k - Cached - Similar pages