Do you ever feel a desire to go beyond the quick photo, to truly understand the deep, connected stories that shape a place and its people? Here at On Way Storytellers, we believe in exploring culture slowly, thoughtfully, layer by layer. That’s the heart of our Content Seasons – focused, deep journeys into specific regions or themes. (If you're curious about how our Content Seasons work, you can read more about our general approach LINK

‍Today, we are incredibly excited to invite you on our very first such adventure: Our Southeast Turkey Content Season. Prepare to journey with us into a land of amazing ancient history and lively living cultures. This region is historically known as Upper Mesopotamia (an ancient land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, often called a "cradle of civilisation" because some of the world's earliest cities and writing developed here) and is often referred to today by its Turkish acronym, GAP (which stands for Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi, a regional development project).

Why Southeast Turkey? A land of deep history and fascinating connections

This is a region that captures the mind and stirs the soul. It’s a place where the echoes of an almost unimaginably old past meet the energetic pulse of today. For thousands of years, different peoples have met, traded, and built civilisations here, leaving behind a rich and complex history.

As we, Ola and Riza, planned this Season, several powerful Key Motifs (or recurring themes) emerged that will guide our explorations and help us understand the unique character of Southeast Turkey:
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• Immense antiquity: We'll travel back to the very beginnings of large-scale human building, to sites that challenge our understanding of when civilisation truly began. Think 12,000-year-old mysteries!
• Cultural crossroads: This land has long been a vital bridge between East and West. We’ll explore how empires, trade routes, and beliefs crossed paths and mixed here, creating a unique cultural blend.
• Layered heritage: We'll uncover the many layers of history – from Roman mosaics (pictures made of small stones) and early Christian holy sites to magnificent Islamic architecture and the lasting traditions of Syriac (ancient Eastern Christian), Kurdish, and Arab communities.
• Resilience amidst complexity: In a border region that has seen much historical change and challenge, we'll look at stories of communities keeping their identity, crafts, and spirit alive.
• Contemporary resonance: We'll see how this deep history isn't just in the past, but still shapes modern identity today, and how current issues, like large development projects and protecting ancient sites, are affecting its future.

A glimpse of our journey through Southeast Turkey:

Our Season will unfold by first Setting the Foundation, helping you understand the incredible timescale and the important connections that define Southeast Turkey. Our journey begins at Göbeklitepe, an astonishing 12,000-year-old site that is truly rewriting the first chapters of human history. We'll explore how this place, built by people who hunted and gathered their food, challenges long-held ideas about when complex societies first emerged. Following this deep dive into extreme antiquity, we'll then trace the paths of the ancient trade routes, like the famous Silk Road. These "world's ancient highways" made this region a lively "melting pot" of cultures for centuries, and we'll explain why and how it became so diverse through the constant exchange of goods, ideas, and beliefs.

From this broad understanding of the region's deep past and its role as a crossroads, we'll take Deeper Dives into Specific Places and Stories that bring its unique character to life. We'll visit Urfa (officially Şanlıurfa), known as the "City of Prophets," to understand its profound connection to Abraham (a key figure respected in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and to experience its spice-filled bazaars, which are alive with a unique blend of Turkish, Arabic, and Kurdish cultures. Then, we'll ascend the remote heights of Mount Nemrut to see King Antiochus I's mysterious, giant statues that guard his mountaintop tomb, a breathtaking testament to ancient ambition and the fascinating blending of Greek and Persian gods.

Our exploration will continue in Mardin, where we'll wander its terraced stone streets, discovering how its unique architecture looks out with an ancient gaze towards Mesopotamia. Here, we'll also delve into its special food and the resilient story of ancient Syriac wine traditions. From there, we'll journey to Antakya, the ancient city of Antioch, an early centre of Christianity, to marvel at the stories told by its world-class Roman mosaics. The vibrant city of Gaziantep will then reveal why it's Turkey's clear capital of amazing food AND traditional crafts, and home to the famous "Gypsy Girl" mosaic, a haunting face rescued from the submerged ancient city of Zeugma. Finally, our series will consider the touching and complex story of Hasankeyf, a place of breathtaking ancient beauty on the Tigris River, and the difficult choices made about its fate due to a modern dam project, prompting reflection on how we value heritage today.

Throughout this Southeast Turkey Season, our aim is to offer you a structured, yet human and understandable, way into these complex topics. We hope you'll discover that you don't need to be an expert to learn deeply. We want to help you see the connections between different aspects of history and culture, to feel more comfortable understanding the background – the history, geography, and social forces – that shaped these remarkable places.

As curious logical explorers, we, Ola and Riza, are excited to share our own journey of research and discovery with you. We believe that by exploring these stories from Southeast Turkey, we can all find insights that are relevant to our own lives – perhaps a new appreciation for human strength, the beauty of cultural exchange, or the powerful effect of history on our world today.

Ready to journey to where history began (and beyond)?

We invite you to join us for our Southeast Turkey Content Season. Follow along as we share these stories, aiming to bring this fascinating part of the world to life in a way that is both thoughtful and engaging.

The adventure begins with our first article. We can't wait to embark on this exploration with you.

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