Mesopotamian Food

(My cleaning lady did not come today and I have guests for dinner tomorrow. I have to clean, shop and cook. So excuse me for posting an old article I wrote 3 years ago after a month old trip to Syria and Eastern part of Turkey..)

It is not wrong to say that appetizers or starters are rather the main dishes in Syria. They are serving so many different varieties at the beginning; the main courses are becoming less enjoyable afterwards. Rice with saffron or pounded and smoked wheat called frik served with chicken or beef and a kind of yogurt soup made with small wheat balls called Lebeniye were the ones remained in my mind as main dishes.

Kebabs were average except one. If you happen to be traveling on the Damascus – Aleppo motorway one day, don’t forget to stop at the Tower Restaurant, which you could easily identify with the huge Eiffel Tower standing at the front. Its specialty is flat meat balls cooked with tomatoes and served in a shallow cooking pan. It was just delicious. Another good address for starters in Syria is the Beit Sitti House in Damascus.( http://www.beit-sitti.com/ )

But I think the primary taste in Syria is the sweets. There are so many shops selling various types of sweets in both Damascus and Aleppo that even a simple window-shopping is an experience itself. The practice of using less sugar and syrup compare to the ones in Turkey greatly increased my capacity to consume. A dangerous feature :) Of course there is also the kunefe; you should definitely taste this warm sweet served with melted cheese inside. You could fulfill all you sweet desires with a single kunefe served at an average price of 40 cents.

Good kebabs are definitely on the Turkish side of the border. Although the previous visitors told that the quality was not as it was before, I still ate the best kebabs in Gaziantep at İmam Cagdas. The kebab with vegetables was just great. Also the sweets made with pistachio should make a visit to your stomach.

Also take a note to drink a zahter tea (a type of thyme) at Tahmis Coffee House that was built in the year 1640 which is located at the end of the Elmacılar Bazaar in Gaziantep. Tahmis is also a nice stopping point for narghile lovers.

In Diyarbakir Aslan Lokantası located at the entrance of Aslan Hotel is a nice restaurant where you good taste good food and kebabs but try to avoid the time during the lunch break as you have a good chance of waiting in queue to eat. Another thing to taste and buy in Diyarbakir is the almond paste of Atlas. This small store located at Ekinciler Cd. No15/C and the quality of its product could easily compete with the famous Bebek Almond Paste in İstanbul and the prices are much much cheaper.

Antakya is another heaven for meze-starters. We ate the best ones in the Kervan restaurant in Harbiye region of the city that is famous with its water falls. Anadolu restaurant at the center of the city was said to be good with its foods and kebabs but I happily settled with delicious grilled calamari in the two nights we ate there.

I don’t particularly like drinking coffee but largely enjoy the smell and the rituals. Although I don’t like the taste of cardamom they are adding into the coffee in Syria, Urfa and Mardin regions I strongly advise the bitter and dark coffee- mirra- served around Urfa and Mardin. It was obtained by boiling the coffee in 3-4 hours in dim fire and served in small cups that you have to drink in one sip. Its dark, its bitter and leaves a kind of sour taste in your mouth afterwards. I tasted the best mirra in a small coffee shop in the Urfa Bazaar and the trick of its good taste was a bit of Nescafe they added when boiling the coffee.

Photographs:
Sweet Shop in Aleppo

Sweets from Gaziantep and Syria
Mirra coffee in Urfa

Zenobia - The Warrior Queen

My nursing activities are going on full time. As I dont have time for a brand new post for today, I am going to give you an old one. It's a post about a woman. Well, she is not a nurse but a queen. I wrote this piece about an amazing woman right after my visit to Syria. So let me introduce you to Zenobia..

''Today I will tell you about a Syrian woman, not an ordinary one but the queen of Palmyra. She is one of the two most important figures of this country, along with Saladin Eyyubi.. I was not aware of her until this trip, but amazed, when I learned that she was almost bringing an early end to Roman Empire.

Zenobia’s father was a Bedouin, Roman citizen and a senator at Palmyra. Her mother died when giving birth to her and her father gave great importance to her education. She was especially interested in history, enjoyed Homer and Plato and talked Egyptian, Greek, Latin and Aramaic. She traveled to nearby countries by caravans. She was also a beautiful, smart and a very attractive woman, who was very fond of hunting and drinking.

In the year 258, at the age of 20, she married to King of Palmyra, Septimus Odaenathus who was 60, as his second wife. Zenobia who hated Romans took this marriage as means to power. Her stepson Hairan was the heir of the throne. In 266 Zenobia gave birth to her own son named Vaballathus – gift of the goddess. A year later in 267, both the king and the heir assassinated. Zenobia’s involvement in these affairs was unknown.

Her son announced as the new king but as he was not old enough to rule, Zenobia succeeded his father and ruled on his behalf. She learned about politics when her husband alive by joining the parliament meetings and even ruling the meetings when her husband was sick.

During this period Romans had problems of their own. Siege of Goths, were blocking their lifelines. Zenobia saw the opportunity and started to invade new areas in the name of Roman Emperor with the claim of protecting the region from Sassanid Empire. She took the vital trade routes in these areas from Romans. She rode at the head of her army and became known as the Warrior Queen. It was written that she was a very talented horse rider and easily walked 5-6 km.

She went as far as Ankara, Chalcedon, Palestine and Lebanon. When she invaded Antakya she sent a message to Roman Emperor that this invasion was fulfilled under his name. Later she took Alexandria and there she made her unforgivable mistake and cut coins for her and her son’s name. It was a rebellion against Romans. Later she stopped the transportation of grains to Rome. Her goal was to defeat the Roman Empire and carry the political power to Palmyra.

As always said with a twist of fate (its definitely not fate, there should be some reasons but I don’t know what they are..) Goths lifted the siege of Rome. When Zenobia heard of this, she immediately sent her allegiance message to Rome but it was too late. Rome did not trust her anymore.

Roman Emperor Aurelian moved towards Palmyra with an army of 100.000. Zenobia was waiting him in Anatolia but the size of her army was only 20.000. Zenobia forced to retreat. Finally Romans sieged Palmyra but Zenobia was ready for them. Every night she ordered big feasts in the centers of the city where people were eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. She was teasing the Romans and showing them that her city was ready for a long siege. But when Romans made alliance with the Bedouins, Zenobia’s plans were doomed. One night she and her son secretly escaped from the city on camel back with the help of her old enemies Sassanids but they caught them near the Euriphes River.

She swallowed her pride and kneeled down in front of Aurelian and begged not for her life but for Palmyra. The destruction and plunder of her beloved city was her biggest nightmare. Aurelian granted her wish but took her and her son to Rome as hostages. Her son was killed when the Roman army was passing the Bhosphorus. In the year 274 she was in Rome in gold chains. Aurelian who was impressed with her beauty and intelligence gave her a villa near Tivoli.

From then on there are two different stories about Zenobia. In the first and the most accepted one, Zenobia married a Roman governor and senator and lived in luxury and became a prominent philosopher, socialite and Roman matron. The two had several daughters who married into Roman noble families.

In the second story, Zenobia forced to live as the mistress of the Emperor and committed suicide after she organized the assassination of Aurelian in Thrace when he was on a new Sasaniad campaign.

Palmyrenes rebelled against Romans after the army left. The Emperor, who initially showed mercy, became furious after the news. Roman army came back invaded, destroyed and plundered the city and left it in ruins.

While certain historical evidences are supporting the first story about Zenobia, I want to believe the second one. I find it quite difficult to imagine a woman who was as smart and as ambitious as her, in entertaining with Romans who killed her son and destroyed her beloved city.

Palmyra established in the 1. Century and had a life of 250 years. While it was a typical Roman city with its own gods, it succeeded in creating its own style and philosophy in a rich and refined way. If you have an opportunity to visit just one place in Syria, my advice is; make it Palmyra. It is definitely an oasis in the desert with its pillars, temples and tombs.

Picture of Zenobia is from Herbert Schmalz. A queen observing Rome, in gold chains.

A Ring and A Story - Damascus

( I wrote this piece 2 years ago after a trip to Syria, and as I was wearing my ring today, I remembered and wanted to share it with you...)

I bought a ring from a souk in Aleppo. On it’s round silver surface, a sentence from Koran engraved in Arabic with a beautiful calligraphy. It says, ‘everything will die/change except the face of God.’

Deaths, funerals and cemeteries have always created different feelings in me. On the one, hand there is the feeling of loss and the end, and on the other hand the feeling that I don’t have to take myself and what I have too seriously, as everything will end one day and the urge to fully enjoy every remaining minutes of my life.

I felt those feelings in the most acute sense when I lost my father. One part of me was senseless due to pain, but the other part was urging me to f… the problems at work or the boy friend who was not calling and telling me that everything will change, and I have to start living and do whatever I want to do as soon as possible.

Since then, those feelings have remained with me. I always know that happiness or sadness, whatever it is, will pass one day, and I try not to indulge myself to either of them strongly.Those feelings were with me in a small cemetery in Damascus. There is a small Ottoman cemetery near the Takıyya al Sulaimaniyya, the current day military museum. There are 40-50 graves here belonging to some dynasty members as well as the Ottoman rulers of the period. One of the graves that is the most important one historically but the most unpretentious one, is belong to the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Vahdettin.

Vahdettin was 57 years old when he ascended the throne on July 4, 1918. He waited this moment long enough at his house at Çengelköy. And that day, he first reached to Sarayburnu pier with a steamboat.. Ministers, members of the parliament and all the staff of the Topkapi Palace were waiting him in an orderly way at the gilded door of the palace. Vahdettin along with Enver Pasha who was escorting him in his car, got off from the car in the most dignified manner, and walked to the Baghdad pavilion…

He rested at the pavilion for a while, then he took Abdulmecit, the son of his uncle Sultan Abdülzaziz, the new heir of the Empire and they went to the Babüssade and he sat at the emerald throne according to the Ottoman customs.

At the same moment, cannon fires were announcing the ascending of Vahdettin while all the Ottoman Princes, leading religious, civil and military figures, were offering their loyalty to the new Sultan.

The next scene is from villa Magnolia in San Remo, Date was, May 15,1926. Eight long years and lots of events passed since that day. After a while he called for Nevzat Kadıefendi who was always around him, and asked for a bowl and said he has pain in his gall, and vomited a little. And then said,’ Oh! Throw this immediately so that it won’t stink. After Nevzat Kadıefendi cleaned the bowl, he found the lifeless body of the Sultan Vahdettin in his deck chair. Those were the last minutes of the last Ottoman Sultan.

The debtors and bankruptcy officers prevented the removal of the body for 4-5 days in San Remo. When they broke into his bag for money, all they found were medallions and decorations, stripped out of their diamonds and valuable stones long ago for the expenses. While the households were negotiating with the debtors in the living room of the villa, Prince Omar Faruk and Tahir bey, secretly loaded the body to a horse cart at the back door, hidden under heavy carpets and the funeral reached to San Remo station.

That was how the body of the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire kidnapped from the debtors, whose predecessors ruled and protected numerous kings and shahs through the centuries and regarded as the ‘holy emperor’ of the all seas and lands in the world. A cart pulled by a single horse moved slowly in the streets of San Remo and the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was starting his last journey.

Vahdettin who was coming from the bloodline of the likes of Fatih the Conqueror and Sulaiman the Magnificent, buried in Damascus that is the closest Islam land to the city that he was born. This is a story that I will remember every time I wear my ring.

I roughly translate italic parts from the book of Yilmaz Cetiner, Last Sultan Vahdettin.