Çatalhöyük: From the empire on which the sun never sets to Anatolia, the land where the sun rises

In recent years, the subject of "history" has become very popular. 

Programs of this kind, which used to be broadcast late at night when citizens were in their second sleep and fleas were crawling on their backs, now appear during "prime time" hours.

They also have a large audience.

Let us not overlook the contributions of Fatih Altaylı’s guests, İlber [Ortaylı] and Celal [Şengör] professors.

The stories and historical segments they recounted in simple language caught all of our attention.

By the way, Altaylı's intellectual capacity is not bad at all; he seems to be knowledgeable and informed about many things.

Atatürk, who foresaw these days exactly 92 years ago, also "A society that does not know its history is doomed to lose its future" said, and established the Turkish Historical Society in 1931.

In many parts of his Nutuk (Speech), he made notes regarding the importance of the past of societies.

Names like ETİBANK and SÜMERBANK still remain in the depths of our minds due to Atatürk's sensitivity to the subject, despite all the wear and tear they have suffered.

As I was writing this piece, the TV was on, and a “breaking news” alert appeared. 

Henry Kissinger has died. 

May he rest in peace; he was 100 years old.

Upon hearing the news about Kissinger, one of the foremost diplomats who made significant contributions to America becoming a global giant and a thorn in our side, I was reminded of the following sentence from Henry Kissinger's book “Diplomacy” which was reprinted by İş Bankası Cultural Publications in 2007:

Kissinger, "To see the shape the world will take in the future, the past must be correctly understood, and the further back you go, the better you see the future" he said in his book.

I call them a plague upon us in the meantime, because it was none other than the U.S. and its Kissinger-like "green belt" operatives, along with the 44th President Barack Hussein Obama—who is Muslim on the outside, though I know not what he is on the inside—who raised these FETÖ scoundrels in 'light houses' and unleashed them upon us by making them judges, prosecutors, pilots, and police chiefs through leaked exam questions.

I shall not go any further and delve into ethnic discrimination.

Some of my friends get upset otherwise.

Anyway, I had bought Kissinger's “Diplomacy” book when I was working at Anadolu University and became an Associate Professor.

Archaeology has also recently come to the forefront in terms of using past codes for the projections of the future. 

It has particularly attracted the intense interest of culture and arts channels, and even TV channels dedicated to the field have been established. 

Not to mention the magazines and books.

Archaeology has been an important field of science for developed countries for a long time, even if it hasn't been for us.

We realized it a bit late.

And by the time we realized it, it had already happened.

Yet, how important those things we called pottery, earthenware, and stone fragments actually were.

We realized it late, despite the Historical Society we established in 1931, which has provided significant resources to domestic excavations in recent years.

Developed countries, which realized the importance of archaeology long ago, try to go back as far as they can while detailing their future strategies.

That is why they place special importance on archaeology.

Çatalhöyük is also an important school of history that is given special importance with its 10,000-year history.

Who lived there, how they lived, what they ate and drank,

How they raised their children, 

What were their social relations like,

What were their production methods,

Their commercial life philosophies,

Their cultural backgrounds,

Their cultural transformations,

And so much more information.

Therefore, this is why they specifically structure their strategic preemptive activities for international dominance through archaeology.

Look How Lawrence in the film "Lawrence of Arabia" undermined the 600-year-old Ottoman Empire. How he single-handedly put an entire imperial army to the sword! 

How he destroyed the Hejaz Railway in such a short time—a project the Sultans, working tirelessly to save the empire, had built over many years and after significant struggle to control the region.

The Ottomans, who had previously taken three months to deploy troops to the region, were able to transport soldiers and ammunition in just three days via the Hejaz Railway, subsequently gaining the ability to transport the region's oil to Europe; just as they were about to save the empire, Lawrence intervened.

The Hejaz Railway line, which was built with the help of other Muslim countries such as Pakistan and Indonesia, was dismantled and sold to Lawrence within three to five days after he declared,

"I will pay money to anyone who brings me a piece of railway track or a wooden sleeper." The line was dismantled and sold to Lawrence within three to five days.

When the Hejaz Railway line, built with immense effort and years of construction work between the late 1800s and the very beginning of the 1900s amidst great financial and technical difficulties, was suddenly dismantled, the empire's army lost its logistics and was left without bread or ammunition.

Following that, its soldiers were disemboweled, their eyes gouged out, and their blood mingled with the desert sands.

After the loss in the Hejaz, a domino effect occurred, and in the Balkans, where we had lived for 500 years and which we knew as our homeland, we were bayoneted, looted, and our women were violated.

And the great empire collapsed in a short time. 

As depicted in the 2011 film directed by Çağan Irmak, starring the great actor Çetin Tekindor and the great actress Hümeyra, “My Grandfather's People” as told in the film;

As the fourth generation of the republic, having arrived in Anatolia on the Gülcemal steamship with nothing but a towel on our necks and rawhide sandals on our feet, we must remain vigilant and agile against new tragedies so that we are not driven even further east from here.

Lawrence of Arabia succeeded, and Lawrence of Pennsylvania tried very hard but failed. May the next Lawrences have better luck. 

Since some of us were not as lucky as we were on this path of migration, they were not buried in Anatolian soil, but thrown into the sea because they fell ill on the ship, so that the germs would not spread to others.

They have no graves.

They became food for the fish.

We are drifting off-topic again,

What do you think Lawrence did with these “rails and sleepers”?!!

“Clothespins on bottles” might he have given it to Abdülrezzak, the traveling salesman wandering about, and received clothespins in return, or perhaps a plastic basin!!!

Perhaps, much like how we solved the problem at its root and wiped out the wild boar population by taking advantage of the state subsidy per tail provided to combat the boars damaging our potato fields,

he might have acted like the villager who, once the local boar population was extinct but the money had become too sweet, continued to hunt other animals in the region with tails resembling those of boars just to keep collecting the bounty per tail.

T.E. Lawrence “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” The 1962 film, directed by David Lean and adapted from the book, won exactly 8 Oscars.

At the same time, it ranks among the top five in the list of the best films of the last century prepared by the American Film Institute. 

If you are curious about his profession, let me write it down immediately. 

"Thomas Edward Lawrence" was an archaeologist.

Just like his mentor, the Uncrowned Queen of Iraq, "Gertrude Bell" was.

Anyway, that is not our field.

I am sure those whose field it is are interested in that subject.

In the Çumra district of Konya, The "Çatalhöyük Archaeological Site" is one of the most important in the world.

Today, it is a treasure that could form the center of the concept known as "Big Data" in Turkish and English alike. It has been excavated by foreigners for years, and all its data has been collected.

I suppose it is something like the Babuna family collecting our blood samples under the instructions of their brother, who is now in custody.

I think we realized that the collected data was being processed quite effectively after we were heavily bombed on July 15, 2016, yet we are ashamed to see that there are still those who do not understand.

I think we realized that the collected data was being processed quite effectively after we were heavily bombed on July 15, 2016, yet we are ashamed to see that there are still those who do not understand.

Fortunately, those who understand, have entrusted the 'Çatalhöyük Archaeological Excavation Site' to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Umut Türkcan, a faculty member of the Department of Archaeology at Anadolu University.

He is now the head of the excavation at the site where he says he has worked from time to time since his student years.

Assessing his archaeological knowledge is certainly beyond me, but his memory, his reading of historical processes, his regional strategic assessments, and his intellectual background are among the best of any academic I know.

I recently visited Çatalhöyük, where he serves as the Excavation Director on behalf of the Ministry. I tried to help with some technical issues as much as I could and as far as my understanding allowed. 

I hope it was useful to our professor.

However, we ate, we drank, and we were hosted very well.

Our professor, considering our comfort, had booked a place for us at a hotel. 

However, upon seeing the order in the excavation house and the deliciousness of the meals, we expressed our intention by saying, 'Professor, if you allow us, we would like to stay at the excavation house as well.'

We would also like to thank our excavation representative for allowing us to stay at the excavation house.

We were amazed by the excavation site and its organization, which we toured under the guidance of Ali Umut Hoca.

Two shelters larger than the old British project have been built here, 

One like an airplane hangar, the other like a ship,

It turned out very stylish.

However, the structural problems caused by classic infrastructure issues and abuses were truly surprising,

I thought that a situation like filling an area, which we wouldn't even dare to step on with bare feet, with thousands of sacks would probably not happen in such an exhibition site in Europe,

On one hand, technical issues such as drainage problems in the other structure and water seeping inside seem to threaten the 9,000-year-old site.

We toured the area that was previously surrounded by concrete and is now facing the risk of severe damage due to attempts to break that concrete.

Thankfully, the warnings were heeded, and the ministry canceled the concrete demolition work.

Had they not, the workers, who would likely have entered the excavation site with jackhammers and pickaxes, would have demolished the beautiful Çatalhöyük.

When I visited in winter, it felt strange to be slipping on the muddy ground of the mound while walking on the designated paths.

I couldn't tell if this was the general state of affairs.

However, out of curiosity, while visiting such large archaeological sites in recent years, I was surprised to see that while walking paths were built elsewhere, they were somehow missing here. 

Even if we don't fully grasp what we mean when we talk about Anatolian history, I always knew that Çatalhöyük was perhaps the first or among the top three, just like Troy, Ephesus, and Alacahöyük. Therefore, I felt a bit saddened.

I did not see much support from the major conglomerates that we are accustomed to seeing at other excavation sites like Göbeklitepe.

If it weren't for the Ministry and the Konya Metropolitan Municipality, Çatalhöyük would have been left completely orphaned.

The "Visitor Center," which was built with the contributions of the Konya Metropolitan Municipality and the Mevlana Development Agency,

is a significant effort. It stands as a testament to local support. It is a vital facility for the site. I was amazed when I saw it.

I am not sure if I have ever seen anything better.

I don't think I have.

Among the wooden structures I have seen so far, a facility has been built that is truly worth seeing in terms of craftsmanship, materials, and aesthetics.

It is like another world; you travel back 10,000 years while touring the facility.

I expressed my personal gratitude to the builders of the facility, Engineer-Contractor Civil Engineer Hakan Bilir and Project Manager Civil Engineer Kenan Uçar, for constructing such a project without any flaws. 

I am certain that the expertise and enthusiasm of the Head of Excavations, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Umut Türkcan, regarding the subject, technique, and the field will resolve existing problems in a short time and that Çatalhöyük will become a significant tourism attraction center for Konya.