“once disassembled, a mosaic cannot be reassembled on the basis of its individual pieces.”
Largely due to its location at the intersection of Asia and Europe, Modern-day Turkey has been home to numerous civilisations, cultures, religions and languages, both historically and in present-day.
History in this region dates back to 9,000 years BCE, found in excavations of Göbeklitepe as the world’s first known temple (predating Stonehenge by more than 6,000 years)¹ and embraces many identities thereafter, as people of different origins came in waves and mingled with those already settled, each time creating a new synthesis.
What took place on this landscape during the last four millennia has shaped our perspective of the world today.²
Today, at least 25% of the population is known to belong to an ethnic minority. Kurds, Armenians, Azeris, Jews, Assyrians, Greeks, Arabs and Lazis are all part of the estimated 35+ non-Turkish ethnic groups who call Turkey home.³
Inevitably, underlying any cultural element of Turkey is the blended legacy of different civilisations past and present, making ‘mosaic’ the perfect metaphor to describe the depth of our heritage.
[1] https://www.allaboutturkey.com/sites.html
[2] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/
[3] https://konda.com.tr/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2006_09_KONDA_Toplumsal_Yapi.pdf
7 main regions
Three of which named after the neighbouring seas, these geographical regions are separated according to their climate, location, fauna and flora, human habitat, agricultural diversities, transportation, topography and so on.
The different factors of each region gives each a unique set of cultural influences - not to forget the influence of neighbouring countries.
We are currently expanding our research to cover the unique creative identity of each region. Click here to browse objects in our collection by their region.
Black Sea
Central Anatolia
Eastern Anatolia
South-Eastern Anatolia
Mediterranean
Aegean
Marmara