A
journey to the East of Turkey in May 2014
Part IV – To Ishak Pasha Palace over
the snow covered pass on 2600 m with Mt. Ararat in view to Kars – the legendary
Armenian city of Ani – Erzurum – back to Cyprus
By Heidi Trautmann
We were not really relaxed crossing over the 2600 m high pass
Tandürek on our way to the Palace of Ishak Pasha. The roads were covered with
10 cm of snow. The bus driver was very careful, he was a good man, came from
Trabzon and looked like Shrek, the known comic figure, a friendly character,
good natured and well-fed. It was cold in the region in the Aladağlar
mountains, with hard winds blowing. A seemingly poor area but the roads were
astonishingly good and wide. Houses covered in tin roofs, hardly any trees, but
pastures for lots of cattle and sheep; that seemed to be the main economic
activity: Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.
We were going close by the Iranian and later the Armenian borders,
all along the way up north, with the Ararat Mountain and its little brother
always in view but since it was rather cloudy all the time we had to be
watching out for the moment when we could see it fully. Just imagine this was
to be the area where Noah’s ark was stranded.
The Ishak Pasha Palace, so
remote in such a wild surrounding, at least now that it was cold, rainy and
windy, it looked to me not so romantic as they claim it to be in all
descriptions. However, I should see it with the spring flowers out and with the
view of the Ararat against a blue sky.
The palace was begun in 1685 by Colak Abdi Pasha and completed in 1784
by his son, a Kurdish chieftain by the name of Ishak. The beautiful architecture
is a mixture of Selcuk, Ottoman, Georgian, Persian and Armenian styles. A palace
with various courtyards, the one you enter first is for the visitors, and in the second one only the family and special
guests were allowed in. A picture book complete with stories about the daily palace
life, the harem and baths, even a toilet still exists, the fire places in all
rooms and the kitchen, the store rooms and private mosque, a ceremonial hall, and
all so beautifully decorated with bas-reliefs in yellow sandstone. There were the lodgings for the servants and
guards, and in the basement the sarcophaghi… a city complete in itself. Looking out of the stone windows over the wide
green plains, there are the ruined foundations of Eski Beyazit from Urartian
times in 800 BC and other witnesses of life around from the 12th and
13th centuries BC. Luxury in the barren isolation of mountains, a retreat,
I wonder what these Pashas’ ideas were, when they selected this site for the
palace.
We
came to Iğdir, a busy town where we had our picnic lunch in a park in the
centre of the city among young people having their lunch there as well, young
people flirting, the head cover of the girls not hindering them to throw tender
eyes and giggle behind their hands lifted to their face. We continued our way
to Kars, I don’t know why but somehow the place holds a bitter image for me,
perhaps by having read Pamuk’s book ‘Snow’ that was when I first came across
Kars. Purely from the visual point of
view it is still rather sinister with the dark basalt buildings, it all looks a
bit neglected; it has had a hard past, torn between the powers, occupied by the
Russians, reconquered by the Ottomans, part of Armenia again, revolution by the
Turks again. This is also the atmosphere in Pamuk’s book and when I laid it
down – that is 20 years ago – I was somehow disgusted, saddened. Funny, how
persisting these images are.
Although
there were some diplomatic efforts to open the borders to Armenia, there are no
changes whatsoever, and we have come across many wire fences drawn along the
borders. In Kars we got to see the old Armenian basalt church which was used as
a museum and some of us went up to the Citadel, all dark stone, but I stayed on
the foot of it and admired purple lilac bushes, the first one for a long time.
The
history of the City of Ani which is east of Kars, once a rich kingdom, is in my
eyes a typical example for the greed of humans for the riches others have built
up, harvesting what others have sowed and in the end leave things destroyed. Between 961 and 1045 Ani was the capital of
the Armenian kingdom reaching down as far as Lake Van and beyond. The peak of
its power was during the long reign of King Gagik (989-1020), with his two sons
who quarrelled over the succession, the downfall began slowly but surely over
the centuries. Once a rich kingdom with its famously rich capital with various
trades routes going by, a city with many religious buildings and palaces and
with modern fortifications that withstood many attacks. Its fame attracted artisans and business
people from all over but alas also the envy by others, so people started to
move away to find more peace elsewhere. In the 11th century there
were about 200.000 people living there, it is assumed, a city with 40 gates and
within the walls 1001 churches, they say.
For
hours we walked through the wide field of ruins, with the last remains of
architectural beauty everywhere, surrounded by two rivers flowing as natural defence
line and we continually came across the barbed wire fences to the border of
Armenia. Today not a single soul is living there but crows nesting in the roofs
and looking down on us through the broken ceilings, mocking us, as if
saying…you see what humans are able to, destroying their own property and
riches, but for what, in the end they own nothing. It is like children fighting
over a toy and rather destroy it then leave it to the other or find a way to both
enjoy it.
Plan of
the city from Wikipedia website
The
road to Erzurum leads us through a pleasant countryside, with lots of forest hills,
small lakes and village life all along. Agriculture and animals; it was a
pleasant day as if it were trying to mollify us. We stopped at a small village
by the road, a small open market where we bought some fresh fruit. We had our
last road lunch here and talked to people enjoying the market day. There were
school children in their school uniform descending from buses and some tried
their English on us. They willingly and most pleased enjoyed the ice-cream they
were offered.
Our
last day was in Erzurum, a charming place, full of life, and it does not show to
the eyes of the fast travelling tourist the sad shadows of the past. It went
through the same history of changing reigns over the centuries - here in the
northern region also by the Russians in the 19th century; In the
beginning of last century the war activities between Russia and Ottomans, the
involvement of Armenians and others brought about the sad story of Armenian
deportation.
Today
Erzurum hosts many ethnic identities, Circassians, Kurds, Turks, Zazas,
Armenians, Hemshin and Lom tribes and Azerbaijanies. Wow, I was impressed. We strolled through the old part of the city,
visited the old Armenian church, saw American Colleges, the Citadel, a Medresse
of the Middle Ages with Selcuk stone carvings, the mosque with twin towers, we bought
some of the famous walnut bread, ate for dinner the famous Çağ Kebab. I read that Erzurum has one of the largest
universities in Turkey with more than 40.000 students…and it is known for
winter sports in the nearby mountains. The city lies at about 1800 m above sea
level, so breathing was still a concern for us during our walks up and down the
avenues.
We
were taken to the rather small airport of Erzurum, a sort of family airport,
nothing fancy; from there we went to Istanbul to catch our flight for Cyprus.
Conclusion:
It was a fantastic journey into a part of Turkey many of us lift their eyebrows
about: Anatolian people, migrating workers, no culture…that is not true. We
were able to read the truth in every fold of the provinces, cities and villages
we had come through; we have also been reading the complexity of cultural
mixtures, the historical and political past, the wars and quarrels about land
until today, the wars in the neighbour countries with the refugees that come
over the borders, the fight for survival and today’s fight to bring all the
country under a common hat and to bring economic development and security into
remote areas.
We
have read the runes in the stones uncovered, buried for millions of years,
testifying the existence of a highly developed people, first migrating folks then
settling around their sanctuaries. We learnt about the migration of monotheistic
religions, coming from the Near East, the establishment of religious
institutions and their disagreements and fights.
I
want to take the opportunity to thank Kaleidoskop Turizm and Mrs Irene
Raab-Marancos for their well-done preparation and here our thanks are extended to
our guide Fatih Bilircin who after months of reading and research helped us to
understand the complexity of the mix of cultures we have encountered.
Responsible
for the planning and organisation of the journey: http://www.zypernreisen.com/en/index.htm