Van (Turkey) – Tbilisi (Georgia)
The unrest seemed to follow us with a bomb in Van during our stay and we resolved not to wild camp during the remainder of our travels through the Kurdish part of the country for fear of fatal mistaken identity. Sickness remedied, we turned north into a more sparsely populated high altitude Anatolia. Regular sightings of Turkish armoured personnel carriers with fingers on the triggers of turret mounted guns were a constant reminder that, although we might be enjoying the culture and countryside, this was a live conflict, and the Turkish soldiers knew all too well that they could be the target of a PKK guerrilla attack at any moment.
Cresting the highest pass to date at 2600m, a stone throw from the Iranian border, we descended and rounded a corner to a vista of the mighty 5137m Mount Ararat. An iconic symbol of Armenian culture now owned by the Turks, those in Yerevan (the Armenian capital) must now make do only with views of their sacred peak.
Still the violence followed us as a PKK member drove a tractor loaded with 2000kg of explosives into an army base 10km away, leaving much death in its wake. As we left the small town we’d stayed in, every shopkeeper in town was frantically closing shop and minutes later it became apparent why. A thronging mass of Kurdish bodies chanted their way down the street, coffin lofted high and posters of the recent martyr thrust above their heads...a hasty departure followed on our part! Half an hour out of town and we rode past the aftermath of the suicide tractor bomb – an army base the size of a very large house with the entire front façade and rooms obliterated…a sobering experience amidst tangible tension from those on guard.
Still the violence followed us as a PKK member drove a tractor loaded with 2000kg of explosives into an army base 10km away, leaving much death in its wake. As we left the small town we’d stayed in, every shopkeeper in town was frantically closing shop and minutes later it became apparent why. A thronging mass of Kurdish bodies chanted their way down the street, coffin lofted high and posters of the recent martyr thrust above their heads...a hasty departure followed on our part! Half an hour out of town and we rode past the aftermath of the suicide tractor bomb – an army base the size of a very large house with the entire front façade and rooms obliterated…a sobering experience amidst tangible tension from those on guard.
Cranking on past fascinating geology and stark plains, mother was now a hardened bike traveller charging on hard through the searing summer heat – the destination, Ani, the ruins of a once grand Armenian city a millennium ago. It hardly shows up on the map or tour guides, but a German couple we met a thousand kilometres earlier had spoken of it in a manner that piqued my interest.
Arriving late on a blustery overcast afternoon we could see the few remaining buildings and city walls contrasted against undulating open plains from a way off. Arriving at the entrance we were greeted with large Turkish flag distastefully and disrespectfully adorning the city wall. It’s difficult to explain, but the walking amongst the last few buildings dotted across the plain, almost all of which are religious in nature, we felt a haunted melancholy alongside acute resentment. These are magnificent one thousand year old buildings and the treatment of them can only be generously described as neglect – for context, there is recent graffiti scrawled on them and none of them are guarded.
This goes to the heart of the Turkish Armenian relations, but having now visited both countries extensively, I would be amazed if anyone could draw any other conclusion other than that the Turks have behaved utterly despicably and it is unfathomable how they have not been brought to task for their actions. Hitler is despised across most of the world and primarily for the genocide he enacted against the Jews – only 25 years prior to that the Turks undertook a genocide on the same scale to remove the Armenians from what was then the Ottoman Empire, indeed it would appear from the quote below that Hitler used their actions as inspiration.
However, unlike the Germans, the Turks deny it ever happened, and because of their economic and military prowess versus Armenia’s paltry power in comparison, the other world powers are happy to let that status quo remain. Yes, even Great Britain will not admit it and Obama tip toes around the issue even though there is video footage of him condemning the genocide before he was president.
It was thus fitting that two days later the 2 month Turkish journey gave way to a new and very different country. However, it would be unfair to leave Turkey on that note, and as I sat camped on the border I reflected on my time here.
The people were the most friendly, interested and hospitable people that I have experienced to date. A day on the road would never go by without being invited for tea, gifted fruit, chocolates or some other gesture of kindness, not to mention the myriad of greetings, horn honks, etc. With long days on the road and being among people with who you mostly cannot communicate, it is so uplifting to experience such gestures regularly, so thank you the Turks and Kurds of Turkey your hospitality was immensely appreciated.
It is true of many countries that there is often a vast difference between the people and the rulers and in Turkey this is blatantly apparent. Under Erdogan, Turkey is a country that severely limits freedom of the press and pours immense resources into promoting Sunni Islam, which says much of the lack of separation of church and state. The outcome being that people are heavily socially policed (especially away from the urban centres, which is vast swathes of the country) and strict conformity to prescribed (religious) norms accounts for the behaviour of the vast majority. And discussions regarding ‘contentious’ issues such as the Kurds or Armenian genocide is generally not socially acceptable. Consequently, people are kept ignorant and aligned with the ruling elite’s agenda. That is not to say there are a lot of conservative religious people who are aligned with the status quo, but the choice is not openly there for those who choose otherwise.
As a feminist travelling to an Islamic country I was determined to put principles aside and try assess the culture objectively. It is a patriarchal culture and Islam prescribes this (as indeed does a lot of Christianity) as a positive trait in that the woman have a vital role in looking after children and the home, and as such the majority of the people you see are men. The woman I did see would usually never greet me (again Islam prescribes this with the phrase ‘lower your gaze’) but would often greet my mother. Although these are quite contrary to my personal principles they are religiously and culturally important and I slowly found myself being able to accept them as such.
One trait I could not accept is how relationships are formed and the inequality in the treatment of the genders in this regard. I had a number of opportunities to sit in chai houses and chat with young guys (between 18 -25) and I’ll recall a telling story from one such experience – I’d been chatting to a group of five roughly 25 year old guys for a while and they asked to look through my phone pictures. Obliging, I scrolled back to the beginning of my trip on a crisp February morning in the UK with pictures of my mates giving me a send-off (see below). Their collective and enthused response was a single word, “GIRLS!”. Now call me a liberal hippy, but if your reaction to seeing a few thoroughly clad men and woman in a group is your hormones going wild, then I put it to you that your culture may be severely hampering the development of your social skills. And indeed, interaction between the sexes is severely restricted for seemingly most communities outside the large cities. Added to that the double standard requiring only the woman to be a virgin when she marries, and you have all the ingredients for a maelstrom of social and sexual issues.
Let me just say at this juncture that the western world dishes up its gender issues slightly differently, but with gross sexualisation and objectification of woman and a raft of double standards in men’s favour, it’s not substantially better –that’s a topic for another time but noted for fairness.
To close-out the shit sandwich, the Turkish scenery offered much variety from lush mountainous terrain all along the Black Sea to the stark high altitude Anatolia plains that are covered in snow for much of the year, along with many ancient sights in-between – we were certainly never bored during the more than two thousand kilometres we rode here.
The people were the most friendly, interested and hospitable people that I have experienced to date. A day on the road would never go by without being invited for tea, gifted fruit, chocolates or some other gesture of kindness, not to mention the myriad of greetings, horn honks, etc. With long days on the road and being among people with who you mostly cannot communicate, it is so uplifting to experience such gestures regularly, so thank you the Turks and Kurds of Turkey your hospitality was immensely appreciated.
It is true of many countries that there is often a vast difference between the people and the rulers and in Turkey this is blatantly apparent. Under Erdogan, Turkey is a country that severely limits freedom of the press and pours immense resources into promoting Sunni Islam, which says much of the lack of separation of church and state. The outcome being that people are heavily socially policed (especially away from the urban centres, which is vast swathes of the country) and strict conformity to prescribed (religious) norms accounts for the behaviour of the vast majority. And discussions regarding ‘contentious’ issues such as the Kurds or Armenian genocide is generally not socially acceptable. Consequently, people are kept ignorant and aligned with the ruling elite’s agenda. That is not to say there are a lot of conservative religious people who are aligned with the status quo, but the choice is not openly there for those who choose otherwise.
As a feminist travelling to an Islamic country I was determined to put principles aside and try assess the culture objectively. It is a patriarchal culture and Islam prescribes this (as indeed does a lot of Christianity) as a positive trait in that the woman have a vital role in looking after children and the home, and as such the majority of the people you see are men. The woman I did see would usually never greet me (again Islam prescribes this with the phrase ‘lower your gaze’) but would often greet my mother. Although these are quite contrary to my personal principles they are religiously and culturally important and I slowly found myself being able to accept them as such.
One trait I could not accept is how relationships are formed and the inequality in the treatment of the genders in this regard. I had a number of opportunities to sit in chai houses and chat with young guys (between 18 -25) and I’ll recall a telling story from one such experience – I’d been chatting to a group of five roughly 25 year old guys for a while and they asked to look through my phone pictures. Obliging, I scrolled back to the beginning of my trip on a crisp February morning in the UK with pictures of my mates giving me a send-off (see below). Their collective and enthused response was a single word, “GIRLS!”. Now call me a liberal hippy, but if your reaction to seeing a few thoroughly clad men and woman in a group is your hormones going wild, then I put it to you that your culture may be severely hampering the development of your social skills. And indeed, interaction between the sexes is severely restricted for seemingly most communities outside the large cities. Added to that the double standard requiring only the woman to be a virgin when she marries, and you have all the ingredients for a maelstrom of social and sexual issues.
Let me just say at this juncture that the western world dishes up its gender issues slightly differently, but with gross sexualisation and objectification of woman and a raft of double standards in men’s favour, it’s not substantially better –that’s a topic for another time but noted for fairness.
To close-out the shit sandwich, the Turkish scenery offered much variety from lush mountainous terrain all along the Black Sea to the stark high altitude Anatolia plains that are covered in snow for much of the year, along with many ancient sights in-between – we were certainly never bored during the more than two thousand kilometres we rode here.
Given the above, entering Georgia and immediately seeing woman (i.e. I could make out their female form!) and beer was a huge culture shock and far more influential than I realised it would be. I knew little of this land but the map and initial interactions were encouraging, however for the moment it was head down charging to the capital Tbilisi for an anxious rendezvous with the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.