Turkish Oddities

Ankara, Turkey, 2009

Turkish OdditiesAnkara, Turkey, 2009

On my walks through Ankara and my travels through Turkey I´ve seen many curious and odd things. This carpet display in a vendor´s stall in the Ulus old town district of Ankara is one of them. The kitschy mini carpets depict an interesting melange of persons and symbols, unifying them in a way, hinting as if all belong together ideologically somehow. And this is the odd part. From top to bottom we see Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, a fierce secularist and nationalist, then Alparslan Türkeş, the founder of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party, followed by the symbol of the Grey Wolves, a fascist organization closely linked to the aforementioned party, and finally the flag of the party. On the left are three more carpets with a religious figure at top (perhaps Ali? feel free to follow me up on this one), then Atatürk again and finally Fethullah Gülen, public enemy no. 1 in Turkey. Isn´t that something? All are nationalists respectively religious leaders of prominent format, is that the connection? In any case it´s really weird, but interesting.

Zeitperle Gallery