40 Years of Following the Light...

40 Years of Following the Light...

All over the world, in every place, a person's country is full of poetic images. Yet, not just because I am Turkish, but because I am a photographer who photographs Türkiye, I consider that my country truly deserves to be described as "an endless poem". I have gathered together evidence through my lens to help you to agree with what I believe.

In this book, you will see framed shots of a lot of places from north to south and east to west of the Turkish Republic, which occupies the Anatolian peninsular, one of the centres of the old world. Through these frames, you will trace the civilisations that have lived on Anatolian soil, the changing beauty of nature and the seasons, Turkish people's way of life and their cultural values... in short, Türkiye. You will observe Türkiye, which is geographically both European and Asian, which is culturally both Middle Eastern and Mediterranean, but most importantly of all, which is one of the countries of the modern world that is developing.

Your attention will be attracted by the number of historical centres and objects shown in my photographs. Yet, I would like you to know that the photographs you see here make up only a very limited selection of Türkiye's historical value. As a photographer, I must declare my inadequacy in photographing and presenting you with images of the historical centres and monuments, which in this country are numbered in their thousands. All in all, since the palaeolithic age, 29 different civilisations have held sway in this land, including the main ones, the Hittites, the Phrygians, the Urartians, the Hellenistic peoples, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Seljuks and the Ottomans.

In my photographs, I have also tried to reflect not only the historical sites, but also the Türkiye that is alive today. Some of those who are interested will already know that Türkiye, with its population today of almost 70 million, is the world's 16th largest economic power, a candidate for membership of the European Union, and one of the leading developing countries. In my work, in which I have attempted to record Türkiye's contemporary level of development with an artistic eye, I have considered its life mostly in terms of the nature and the quality of human relations found there. For this reason, the photographs that reflect daily life consist mainly of scenes of country life in a way that portrays Türkiye's ethnographic characteristics.

The most important characteristic of the contemporary Republic of Türkiye is its secular nature, which its founder, Ataturk, established as a principle of its state structure. This principle, which reduces the influence of religious rules on the workings of the state, forms the basis of the religious tolerance and freedom of belief in the Turkish Republic of today. The Republic of Türkiye has guaranteed that its citizens of different faiths and sects can live and practise their beliefs in freedom, just as was witnessed in its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire. Furthermore, the land of Türkiye, which once found itself in the middle of the ancient world, contains centres that are accepted as holy by all the monotheistic religions. In my work, I have gathered these centres together under one heading. Without question, trying to include all of these many centres in this work was my biggest difficulty.

I believe that my photographs will give people a little information, an image, of Türkiye. However, what is more important is the fact that whoever sees these photographs, whether native or foreign, will feel a desire to visit the places in Türkiye where these photographs were taken. Therefore, if I have been do this, I will have done my duty as an artist of showing people the way forward. I hope that you will see Türkiye, which for 365 days of the year has unequalled opportunities of tourist activity to offer, whether it is cultural aims or recreational pursuits that are being sought. And I wish you the happiness I have experienced in taking these photographs that I now present to you.

Finally, I wish to add that taking a photograph in Türkiye is akin to being in the position of a honey bee in a field of flowers: it does not know which flower to land on. In Türkiye, you, like the bee, will want to keep flying and tasting every flower. But to be sure, which ever flower you land on, the taste you receive will be unique.