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sebnemsanders

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sebnemsanders

Tag Archives: Turkey

Inferno

02 Monday Aug 2021

Posted by SebnemSanders in blog post, Memoir, True Story, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

amreading, amwriting, arson, blog post, ecosystem, fire, flora and fauna, Forest fire, heinous motives, inferno, livelihood, loss, Marmaris, Memoir, memories, Muğla, pine forests, True Story, Turkey, writers' community


Marmaris, Muğla ,Turkey 29 July, 2021

One never knows when one is safe in life. I’m sitting in my lounge, with the aircon on, while an inferno builds around me. Outside the temperature is 42+ C, inside, a comfortable 26C. But then it all depends on the electric company, doesn’t it? Once they decide it’s safer to cut my power, I’ll be immersed into the heat. Once the wind turns, from the east to the west, I’ll sit in the middle of the flames burning the pine tree covered hills around me.

Where would I go? Into the pool, I’m thinking, but would I have to stay underwater while the inferno takes me hostage? For how long? Will I survive? Who knows?

This is the fourth day of the fire. No, it’s not a bush fire. I know this for certain. I’ve lived here for the last 11 years, and never seen anything like this. Usually, the fires are local, and firefighters put them out in a few hours. This is different, deliberate, mean and calculated. Set ablaze in various spots. Mankind is the cruellest creature on the planet.

The villages are left on their own. Their livestock, greenhouses, homes, and fields at the mercy of the flames. There is no state, authority to protect them. The president visits the disaster sites in a convoy of hundreds of cars and throws tea bags out of the window. Not flowers, not water, but teabags…

Have I come here to die in an Inferno? I do not know. I miss my hometown, but I also got accustomed to this place which has given me hope. A fake hope, perhaps. Hope is a wish that keeps us going.

At dusk, the scenery resembles an apocalypse, a blood red sky, smell of burning, and the death of the forest. Hot winds blow ash and burnt pine needles everywhere.

In daytime, driving through the once thick woodland, the ghosts of pine trees lament their lost glory. No more the rich green against the azure sky. Only carcasses in brown, dead and dying, weeping. I weep for them, and all the creatures who have lost their homes and perished. It seems it takes 50-60 years for a forest to recover its ecosystem. The flora and the fauna that provide livelihood to the locals. I won’t be around then, but I have seen the best. No one can burn my memories.

So, I wait for fate to turn its wheels. As far as my view and binoculars allow, I watch the forest day and night, to spot intruders with heinous motives. Will the wind change, the power cut, or will I be saved, redeemed, and perhaps understand what I’ve come to learn in this life.

Marmaris, Muğla, Turkey 29 July, 2021

Muğla, Marmaris, İçmeler, then and now, before and after 29 July, 2021
Muğla, Marmaris, villages, forest fire, despair…

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A Trip to Remember

14 Friday Jun 2019

Posted by SebnemSanders in Memoir, Newsfeed, True Story, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Acropolis, amreading, amwriting, Athens, Greece, Ithaca, Kefalonia, Marmaris, Meeting, Rhodes, Selimiye, Trip, Turkey, Vacation, Writers

Athens Temple of the Olympian Zeus
The Temple of the Olympian Zeus, Athens, with Acropolis in the background (From left to right, Sebnem, David, Michelle, and Joanne)

 

 

Dear Friends, Fellow Authors, and Followers,

 

Sorry I have been away for a while. It wasn’t intentional. I meant to post a story before I left on holiday, but failed to do so while trying to get organized for the trip. So, here’s a true story about our adventures, meeting with fellow writers at various locations, and how this journey evolved.

David J. Meyers, from Melbourne, Australia, and I, first met at the now defunct Harper Collins writer’s website, Authonomy, in 2013. I had joined Authonomy back in 2012 and posted my manuscript The Child of Heaven which David read and edited while I read many of his books, including The Maia Calendar, Lost in Authonomy, The Gargoyle Chronicles, and To See the Sun. This was before David established himself as an historical fiction writer and his genre was more fantasy orientated. Meanwhile, that year I also met the American author, Joanne J. Kendrick who wrote paranormal fantasy and romance. I read her books, Music of Souls and Chance Inheritance, and her sequel to Music, Eternity’s Opus.

The beginning of David’s Maia Calendar takes place at the Sultanahmet Square, the Hippodrome, in the old town of Istanbul. In the summer of 2013, David and Michelle decided to visit Istanbul. At that time, I was no longer living in Istanbul, my hometown, but in Marmaris, on the Southern Aegean coast.  So, I made sure I was in Istanbul during their short stay and the virtual friendship became real when I met David and his lovely wife, Michelle, in person, at their hotel in the Sultanahmet area and we had lunch at the historical Sultanahmet Köftecisi.

Joanne had a life change a couple of years ago, and was working and living on her own. She wanted to travel to places she had never been, and had never flown across the Atlantic. I invited her to stay with me in Marmaris, and said we can also go to the Greek islands from here. Last year it didn’t happen, for one reason or another. This year in early January, Joanne asked if we could plan a trip together from Turkey to Greece. This coincided with the time I was diagnosed with hernia in my lower back and was having treatments. I thought, why not, life is too short, and perhaps, I might not be able to do this in the future. Who knows? Not that I can afford to pay anything in Euros with the state of the Turkish economy these days, but what’s money for if you can’t enjoy it in good health. I said, “Let’s do it,” and we began to plan our journey.

Meanwhile, David and Michelle were celebrating their 25th year together and he wanted to do something special for her. Once David heard our plans, he discussed it with Michelle and they decided to fly to Santorini for a romantic break before meeting us in Athens on the 21st of May. For four nights and three days we stayed in a flat with 3 bedrooms and bathrooms, in the Plaka district, which Joanne found from Airbnb.

It was the first time David, Michelle and I met Joanne in person. She turned out to be exactly as I imagined her. Then, thinking perhaps my Facebook friend, the lovely American painter and writer, Pamela Jane Rogers, who has lived in Poros for the last 30 years, could join us for lunch during our stay, I messaged her, and she kindly agreed. So we all  met for lunch in Athens, 4 writers, two from the US, one from Oz, and one from Turkey, together with Michelle Meyers and Francis Broun, a professor of History of Art from Princeton, and Pamela’s husband.

 

Athens Writers Meeting
Lunch in Athens, from left to right, Joanne, Francis, Pamela, Sebnem, David and Michelle

 

David was the tour leader in Athens as we covered all the historical sites, from Hadrians’s Library, The Athenian Agora, Roman Agora, The Temple of The Winds, The Acropolis, The Temple of the Olympian Zeus, to the Acropolis Museum. Although it was a challenging task for my back, I did manage to climb to the Acropolis, with help from my friends, while trying to cope with the treacherous spiral Greek steps and stairs, and hills that were an inescapable feature of our daily excursions.

 

Athens Hadrşan's Library
Hadrian’s Library, Athens
Athens The Athenian Agora
The Athenian Agora, Athens
Athens The Roman Agora
The Roman Agora, Athens (Sebnem, David and Joanne)
Athens The Temple of the Winds
The Temple of the Winds, Athens
Athens Acropolis
Acropolis, Athens (Joanne and Michelle)
Athens Acropolis 3
Acropolis, Athens (The statues here are reproductions. The originals are at the Acropolis Museum, as seen in the below photo)
Athens Acropolis Museum
Acropolis Museum, Athens (The original statues from the Acropolis have been restored and now kept at the museum.)
Athens Acropolis Museum 2
Joanne, David and Michelle at the Acropolis Museum, Athens
Athens Acropolis Museum 3
Acropolis Museum, Athens

 

Joanne and I parted with David and Michelle on the 25th of May. They left for Australia as we boarded a propeller plane to Kefalonia from Athens. We took a ferry to Ithaca, Penelope’s Island, where we stayed with a very good friend of mine. Our week in Ithaca was pure serenity as we marvelled at the unspoiled nature and exquisite  beauty of Ulysses’ Kingdom.  A population of 2000 and full of Greeks born is Oz with Aussie accents, who have returned home to claim their heritage from their ancestors. It seems back in the early 50’s there was a devastating earthquake in the Peloponnese Islands and most of the inhabitants of Kefalonia, Ithaca and other islands immigrated to Australia, South Africa, the UK, and the US to begin new lives.

 

Ithaca view from Exoghi
View from Exoghi, Ithaca
Ithaca view from Exoghi 2
View from Exoghi, Ithaca
Ithaca Vathy
Vathy, Ithaca
Lunch at Kioni, Ithaca with our host, Michele Neale, and Joanne.
Itaca, Vathy
Vathy, Ithaca
Ithaca, Ulysses
Ulysses Statue, Vathy, Ithaca
Ithaca, Homer
Homer Statue, Vathy, Ithaca
Ripples on Yaya Beach, Ithaca
Ferry from Ithaca to Kefalonia

After our magical stay in Ithaca, we flew to Rhodes via Kefalonia and Athens on the 2nd of June. Another 4 days of explorations on the lovely island and a ferry ride to Marmaris on the 6th of June brought me back home with Joanne. Jo stayed with me for 5 nights and 4 days and had a brief tour of  Marmaris and the surrounding villages. When she left Marmaris and flew back to the US via Dalaman and Istanbul, on the 11th of June, we had been together for 21 days.

 

Rhodes Old Town Gates
Joanne by the Fountain, Rhodes Old Town
Anthony Quinn Bay, Rhodes
Stegna Beach, Rhodes
Acropolis at Lindos, Rhodes
Waiting for Jo to climb to the top of Lindos in Rhodes before she got lost in the maze of shops on the way down.
Marmaris Marina and the Fortress
View of Marmaris from the Fortress
Frozen Lavender Lemonade, Marmaris
Piano Bar, Selimiye, Marmaris
Kızkumu, Orhaniye, Marmaris
Marmaris Bay

 

It was definitely a trip to remember, with great company and wonderful memories. I hope we’ll have the chance get together again, in the near future.

And there’s a story brewing, in my head. It starts with, “Penelope sat on the pebble beach in Ithaca and combed her hair …” and I don’t know where she’ll take me …

Sebnem xxx


Amazon Author pages:

Joanne J Kendrick

David J. Meyers

Pamela Jane Rogers

Sebnem E. Sanders





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RC Quarterly Spring-Summer Issue 52

09 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by SebnemSanders in Newsfeed, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2018, ACG, Alma Mater, anthology, Arnavutkoy, debut, Flash Fiction, Istanbul, Quarterly Alumni Magazine, RC, Ripples on the Pond, Robert College, short stories, Spring-Summer Issue 52, The American College for Girls, Turkey

 

RC Magazine Collage

 

It’s wonderful to be mentioned in the Quartely Alumni Magazine of my Alma Mater, then ACG, The American College for Girls, now RC, Robert College, in Istanbul, Turkey. 

 

Ripples on RC Magazine

 

RC Quarterly Cover

 

Here’s the link to to the PDF version of the magazine:

RC Quarterly Alumni Magazine Spring-Summer Issue 2018

 

 

 

 

Ripples on the Pond

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Göbeklitepe, Potbelly Hill, The Oldest Temple in the World

12 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by SebnemSanders in Flash Fiction, Inspired by a True Life Story

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Father of Göbeklitepe, Göbeklitepe, Klaus Schmidt, Potbelly Hill, The Oldest Temple In the World, Turkey, Şanlıurfa

gobeklitepe-the-other-tourGobekli-Tepe-Turchiauntitled

The Birth of Religion “We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization.” http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text

 

 

ŞanlıUrfa(Shanliurfa), Southeast Turkey, 1994

 

When Professor Klaus Schmidt of the German Archaeological Institute arrived in one of the oldest towns in the world, he believed he could find something unique to improve his understanding of the Neolithic era. Perhaps, something to make this town, where Prophet Abraham was supposedly born, inspire interest again. Buried at Göbeklitepe, about twenty kilometres away, he unearthed evidence that might prove his theory that the thinking of the modern archaeologists and anthropologists was probably not quite right. He had worked in the area together with a team of Turkish and international colleagues, and discovered many sites related to the Neolithic Age. This fertile land, between the rivers of Euphrates and Tigris, the cradle of civilization in Anatolia, he knew held all the secrets regarding the progress of mankind. Does it begin with Sumer or is it even older?

 

 

Klaus decided to stay in Urfa and rented a house. The 1960 survey by the University of Chicago and the Istanbul University on Göbeklitepe triggered his interest, and he managed to scrape together the funds to conduct an excavation there, in collaboration with the local authorities.

 

 

1995-2014

 

The following year the excavations begin. He discovers the lime-stones at the top of the mounds, dismissed as Byzantine and Ottoman in the survey, are much older. The more they dig, the more they find. Layer upon layer of stone, the technique and artistry getting more sophisticated under each layer, the oldest dating back to Stone Age, more than 11,600 years ago.

 

“There are more flint tools in a square meter or two, here than many archaeologists find in entire sites,” says Klaus, to Chigdem, a Turkish research archaeologist from his team, both with a passion for Göbeklitepe. The mutual obsession, which lasts a lifetime, sparks a romantic relationship, and some years later they get married. They live between Urfa and their house in Germany. The excavations continue, two months in the summer and two months in the winter.

 

As the head of the excavation, Klaus ponders on V. Gordon Childe’s theory that the primitive foragers and hunters settled first, then began their attempts to develop agriculture, giving rise to the need to invent better tools and objects to facilitate their lives. The settlements grew, societies advanced and religion was established. Yet, the excavations imply otherwise. Göbeklitepe finds in Mesopotamia reveal no evidence of settlements, but only rings of tall, T-shaped pillars with carvings of many animals and beasts on them.

 

Klaus closes his eyes and imagines. They look like human beings assembled in a circle around the fire, perhaps dancing, meeting or praying.

 

Totalling 200 pillars, between three layers, they range between 5-10 meters high, their diameters 20-50 centimetres wide, and they weigh between 20-50 tons.

 

“How did they erect these stones here? The mounting system for the central pillars must have been designed so well,” Klaus asks his colleague, German architect and civil engineer, Eduard Knoll.

“They hadn’t yet mastered engineering then. Perhaps they propped them up by wooden posts.”

“The lime-stone source is at least one hundred meters away. They must have cut the pieces with flint and carried them here. So far, we’ve found no domestic evidence on the site. Most probably they brought food here, as we came across animal bones, gazelle and aurochs, even stone basins that could have been used for beer.”

“The nearest source of water is about six kilometres away. How did they carry everything, without wheels or any pottery?” Chigdem asks.

“I think they must have used many workers going back and forth. Those who lived here were not inhabitants, but only staff. The visitors came to celebrate or pay their respects to a higher power. Nature, most likely. They used their imagination and created the supernatural. The creatures and beasts, as well as the gifts of nature around them, inspired this belief.”

“So you’re refuting Childe’s theory? Belief first, followed by settlement and agriculture, and civilization last.”

“This is the oldest temple in the world when human-beings were nomads. Everything is a result of human imagination. Unique in its mysterious ways.”

“And your faith in this place all these years proves your theory, my love.”

 

Klaus’s previous work at Nevali Çori, a settlement in the nearby mountains, dating to 500 years later than Göbeklitepe, exhibits the first evidence for plant domestication, at a time called Pre-pottery Neolithic. Similar T-shaped pillars with carvings of animals and beasts are also found there. Catalhoyuk, the famous Neolithic village in Anatolia, is 2000 years later than Göbeklitepe.

 

Klaus believes in the French Archaeologist, Jacque Couvin’s theory that this is “a revolution of symbols” where human consciousness imagined a universe beyond the physical world.

 

The excavations continue, the world looks at the site with curiosity. Some archaeologists and anthropologists conclude this is a discovery that could change all beliefs and theories about the origins of civilization. Others disagree and say, the fact that no settlements were found, does not prove religion came before civilization. Maybe they all came at the same time, but different aspects surfaced first in different places.

There is no definite answer to the Neolithic Revolution.

 

In the summer of 2014, Klaus passes away, at the age of sixty, after a heart attack, leaving a sad and lonely Chigdem behind.

 

 

2015

 

In the Spring of 2015, Chigdem travels to Göbeklitepe for the first time without Klaus. The locals who call him Klaus Bey have organized a ceremony for the Father of Göbeklitepe.

 

She looks around with tears in her eyes and remembers the man who believed in his dream and did not miss one day of excavation during the last twenty years. From six a.m. till the end of the long day, he worked with his team. His words echo in her mind, “Twenty years ago, everyone believed civilization was driven by ecological forces. I think what we are learning is that civilization is a product of the human mind.”

 

This is based on a true story, in memory of Klaus Schmidt, a Dreamer, the Father of Göbeklitepe.

 

Video:

 

 

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