Why Do They Call Turkey "The Place Where East Meets West"?

Show all answers

Ipek K

The reason is; Turkey has a blended culture of the Middle East, Africa and Europe due to the fact that the Ottoman Empire covered most of these lands in its period of time.

This fact affected the architecture, daily culture, traditions, cuisine , even language, clothing and art.

Second reason is the location of Turkey made it an opening port of the ancient Silk Road and Spice road , from Far East, Middle East and Africa to Europe and even to America.

This caused a lot of merchants from all over the world to come and go while leaving traces of their own cultures behind.

daddy cool

who are "THEY"?

as I remember Rudyard Kipling once wrote:
"East is east and west is west
those two shall never meet"

apparently Turkey stands as a living proof that many Western presumptions are standing on fake assumptions..

this is why imperialist powers go against Turkey and also use puppets like armenian diaspora just to cover they're wrong

Selena

Some parts of Turkey are in Europe and some in Asia. The silk road ended in Turkey which could be seen as the end of the Asian continent before the trade went into the so called western countries. Today Turkey is a blend of East and West!
In my opinion traditions, ways of operating and ways of thinking are very Asian, the fashion has become westernized and so has the design of new buildings. The food is very Asian and very healthy! The good thing about Turkey is that it blended the good things of the West with the good things of the East making it a very pleasant country to live in!

megwillâ™¥â™«

Geographically, most of Turkey is on the Asian Continent while a very small portion is on the European Continent.

The Turkish city Istanbul is the only city in the world that straddles on 2 continents. (There are other countries that straddle on 2 continents for example Russia).

So geographically it is like East Meets West.

Turkey was also, at different time, a cradle for 10 civilizations so she has her fair share of cultural mix from the East and West.

Wocka wocka

It is a Muslim country with many of the social and political ideals of the west.

moglie

Asia meets Europe.

Hurricane

it can't be explained,you must visit Turkey to get the point.Turkey is a unique country.it is fashion,design of buildings,culture,cuisine,sightseeing...... much more!

The Babe is Armed!

Art and architecture have a lot do do with it. Cultures and tradition have a lot to do with it. Geography also has a lot to do with it.

s.brudenell

sorry jin don't know

nick

yeah, i donÂ´t know why they are happy with this phrase...
its better when WEST meets WEST

Laura S

because half of this country is located in Asia and half of it is in Europe. like the city of VAN is right by Iran which it is a middle eastern country and Izmir, Istanbul and .... are all in the European side.

armenia forever

because there were more than 1 million Armenians there before 1915. who were, as it was thought in that times the basis's from where culture would grow to east but after killing most of Armenians there they put them in such situation when only something like USA could help them USA took them under his wing and Turkey growed (Turkey was very needed in confrontation between USA and USSR) but now only 8% of Turkish citizen(maybe less) think USA is their ally . so today Turkey is muslim country under the wing of christian although 92% of it's citizen are against it (after that some call that country democratic) so it is mixture of eas and west.

ah almost forgot it's also a muslim country which occupied christian countries and took not only their lands but also their culture(most from greek/ byzantine cultures) for example church of St. Sofia

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: