Trailing Turkey’s past in Sanliurfa province

If the murmurs in the vaulted bedestens (markets) of Sanliurfa could be muted, you would be surrounded with the click of pistachio shells being broken by shoppers sampling the product quality. But the shops in the bedestens have much more to offer beyond pistachios—spices, nuts, fruits, carpets and even fabrics such as zardosi which are carefully curated from India.

On the eastern shore of the Euphrates, the province of Sanliurfa(also known as Urfa), in the Fertile Crescent region of Anatolia now a part of Turkey, is a hub of pistachio cultivation. Long ago, it had cradled the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations. Great powers had risen and fallen—some influenced the world enormously whereas others were erased from the memory of time.

The province also houses a city by the same name. Founded in 304 BCE by Seleucius I Nicator, the same army general who fought with Chandragupta Maurya of the Indian subcontinent between 305-303 BCE, the city of Sanliurfa buzzes around its museums, mosques and lakes but the province is even more interesting.

On the Euphrates

111 kilometres towards the west of the city of Sanliurfa is the natural border of the province demarcated by the jade-green waters of the Euphrates, ground zero of the sunken city of Halfeti. Established in 855 BCE by Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, Halfeti was used in the following centuries by several dynasties including the Byzantine and the Ottomans. In the year 2000, most residents of the historic town were relocated to a new settlement 10 kilometres away when water from the Berecik dam flooded the old city.

A downhill journey from Halifeti Kusbakisi point along the road built in sweeping arcs would bring you to the Halfeti Marina where you would be greeted with shrill calls of Maras Dondurma—the iconic melt-resistant, chewy ice cream with origins in the Turkish city Kaharanmarash. With permission, locals rub on the palms of visitors a perfume made using the black rose of Halfeti— an elusive rose which only grows in the soil of old Halfeti and nowhere else in the world.

On the hour-long boat-ride, watch how the sepia-tinted high walls of the abandoned Rumkale Fort merge effortlessly with the vertical, arid hills. It is said that inside the walled city, one of the apostles of Jesus wrote and stored a manuscript of the Bible. Ruined stone houses dot the shoreline. The half-submerged minaret of a mosque rising from what used to be Savasana village suddenly splinters the continuity. The more adventurous can go scuba diving into the waters to discover the minute details of old Halfeti.

The plains of Harran

48 kilometres to the south of the city of Sanliurfa, in the plains of Harran, the Arabs dominate. The Harran Great Mosque (Ulu Camii) built by the last Umayyad caliph, Mervan II between the years 744-750 AD is the oldest mosque built in the Islamic style in Turkey. The 33-metre high minaret of the mosque overlooks the modern city of Harran as the rest of the mosque lie in disrepair. In the land surrounding it, women crouch down cultivating herbs in their fields barely 20 kilometres away from the Syrian border.

Throughout history, Harran was always in the crosshairs of religion. The 5000 years old city was wholly pagan with an active cult of Moon (Sin) and Sun (Samas) worshippers. Excavations in the Harran Mound revealed the existence of a Sin temple. The ancient culture was razed by the rise of Christianity, later followed by Islam. Several schools of thought agree that the biblical Haran where Prophet Abraham migrated from Ur and where his grandson Jacob spent many years of his life is indeed the Harran of Turkey.

The tourist nerve-centre is the 300-year-old conical beehive houses made of mud which are discarded by the citizens now as technology progressed, but anyways maintained by the government as a part of heritage. The vernacular architecture style dates back to 4500 years. One such house with a stone courtyard graced by low, stone-tables and stools open its doors for curious tourists who want to have a look. Inside, the clay niches are stacked with metal utensils and shiny traditional outfits which tourists are free to wear and take photos.

The oldest temple in the world

Enjoy the favourite beverage of the Turks, Ayran, a yoghurt-based drink, similar to chaas (buttermilk) of India while riding towards Gobeklitepe, 19 kilometres east of Sanliurfa city.

12000 years ago, during the pre-cultivation era, 7000 years prior to Mohenjo Daro-Harappan civilization, when even the wheel was not invented and humans were still hunters and gatherers, people in this region managed to build massive monolith T-shaped stone pillars embellished with carvings. The smaller pillars encircle two bigger ones on the bodies of which hands, legs, loin clothes and fox skin are sculpted — interpreted by experts as the earliest representation of a man and a woman. Etched figures of wild animals like fox, lion, leopard, snake exist alongside.

Discovered by late German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt in 1994, this site has now secured a UNESCO World Heritage tag. Experts deem the site as the world’s first cult congregation centre where rituals were conducted. The most perplexing factor is perhaps the ability of early men to direct such a massive project, which demands immense organisational and management skills without any modern tools.