ISTANBUL
İstanbul is very important place in the world.The city is spread over an area of 7.500 km2 150 km long and 50 km wide.Istanbul became the biggest and the most crowded city of Europe.Because, ıts location between Asia and Europe, the city always had a great geopolitical importance.the city population is estimate 12 to15 millions.
Around 2 millions tourists visit İstanbul every year.They are see the historical and natural beauties of the city. The city has a lots of historical mosque,church and museums of Turkey.
THE ÇAMLICA HILL
Çamlıca hill is the higgest hill in İstanbul.It is 263 m. high from the sea level.It was used as a picnic area.In the 1980 is the Touring Automobile Association built a series of restaurant,a Turkish cafe and a park
THE TAKSIM SQUARE
The large square at the end of the Istıklal street is the Taksim square, which is one of the most active centers of İstanbul.The square is the most important for Istanbul.There are a lot of different counturies people.There are a lot of big department store this place is really beatiful.
BOSPHORUS BRİDGE OR THE ATATÜRK BRIDGE
The project preparations were started in1950.The bridge building started in 1970.It was completed on 29 October 1973.
Kaynak: ReformTürk http://www.reformturk.com/illerin-ingilizce-tanitimi/49210-herhangi-bir-ilin-ingilizce-tanitimi-turkiyeden.html#post99855
It was built by German and England engineers.Thirty five engineers and four hundred Turkish workers were employed during the construstion.Its cost was $25 millions.The height of the bridge from sea is 64 m.
The Atatürk Bridge carries 200.000 vehicles and 600.000 people a day.

THE FATİH SULTAN MEHMET BRIDGE
The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge was built between 1985 and 1988 the opening date was at the save time the 535th anniversary of the Otoman conquest of the city.

THE SÜLEYMANIYE MOSQUE
It was built by Architect Sinan, the most famous architect at Ottoman history between 1550-1557 Süleymaniye Mosque, according to the construction reports of those days,5.723 workers (of these 1.713 are Moslems, 3.523 Christians ) completed the construction in 2.7 million working days.The cost of the mosque is $60 millions today.
THE LEANDROS TOWER
The leandros Tower covers on area of 1250 m2 and was built 200 metres from the Usküdar beach.It has got a intelligent history.
One day a witch has got apples for the girl and gave her a poisana us apple, she did after eating it.That is why the tower is called the Leandros Tower
THE GALATA TOWER
This tower at the slopes of Galata is visible every where in the city, and is 61 m. tall.The tower is at the hill which over looks both to the Bospherus and the Golden Horn and the sea of Marmara.
One day,an scientist named Hazerfen Ahmet Çelebi jumped down the tower and flew to the opposite side of the Bosphorus strait by using the wings which he had invented ( 17th century )
THE FORTRESS
It was constructed with the order of Yıldırım Beyazıd in 1393, during one of the sicges of İstanbul.It is opposite to the Rumeli Hisarı.In the previous period there was a Christian Church at the same place.
Its original name was Güzelce Hisar.
There are a lots of pashas villas.These are the Bahriyeli Sedat Bey Villa, the Zarif Mustafa Pahsa Villa, constructed in the 19 th century; the Yağcı Sefik Bey Villa, constructed in 1905 and the Hasan Pahsa Villa.
THE DOLMABAHÇE PALACE MUSEUM
The Dolmabahçe Palace Museum was built between 1611-1614.It ıs that 14 tens of gold and 40 tons of silver were used for the decoration of the palace.The furniture was bought from Paris, the vases from Hereke and Lyan , the crytal materials from Bccarant and the the can dlesticks from England with special order.Almost all of 131 large and 99smal hand-made carpets are silk carpets, and they were woven in the royal workshops in Hereke.The total area covered by the carpets is 4.500 square meters.The total area at the palace is 250.000 square meters

There are 12 gates.There are 285 rooms, 43 holls, 6 balconies, 6 hamams and 1427 windows.In the deconation, 156 clocks, 280 vases and 58 candle sticks.By the way, the carpet of 124 m2 is the second largest hand-made Hereke carpet in Turkey.

DENİZLİ

Denizli is a growing industrial city in the eastern end of the alluvial valley formed by the river Büyük Menderes, where the plain reaches an elevation of about a hundred meters, in southwestern Turkey, in the country's Aegean Region.

The city has a population of about 400,000 (2006 census) and is the capital city of Denizli Province.

Denizli has achieved a remarkable economic development in the last decades based notably on textile production and exports. Having become a vibrant center of manufacturing focused on exportation, Denizli is frequently cited, along with a number of other Turkish cities, as one of the foremost examples of "Anatolian Tigers" in reference to its rapid pace of development.

Denizli also attracts many visitors to the nearby mineral-coated hillside hot spring of Pamukkale, and the ancient ruined city of Hierapolis, as well as ruins of the city of Laodicea on the Lycus, the ancient metropolis of Phrygia. Also in the depending of Honaz, about 10 miles west of Denizli is, what was, in the 1st century A.D., the city of Colossae.

The weather is very hot in Denizli in summers, whereas in winters, it may occasionally be very cold with snow on the mountains that surround the city. Springs and autumns are generally rainy.
Etymology
The name Denizli means "a locality with a sea or with a lake" in Turkish, but the town is not on the coast. The name mutated through several spellings and must have referred to the abundance of underground water sources or the city's location on the way to western Turkey's lakes region nearby.


History
The area has been occupied since prehistoric times, there were important ancient Greek and Roman towns nearby, (Hierapolis and Laodicea on the Lycus), which persisted through the Byzantine period.

The city was founded in its current location after the area has been settled by the Turks.

In the 17th century, the Turkish traveler Evliya Çelebi visited Denizli and recorded the town as follows: "The city is called (Denizli) (which means seaside in Turkish) as there are several rivers and lakes around it. In fact it is a four day trip from the sea. Its fortress is of square shape built on flat ground. It has no ditches. Its periphery is 470 steps long. It has four gates. These are: painters gate in North, saddle-makers gate in the East, new Mosque gate in the South, and vineyard gate in the West. There are some fifty armed watchmen in the fortress, and they attend the shop. The main city is outside the fortress with 44 districts and 3600 houses. There are 57 small and large mosques and district masjids, 7 madrasahs, 7 children's schools, 6 baths and 17 dervish lodges. As everybody live in vineyards the upper classes and ordinary people do not flee from each other."
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The city lived in peace for centuries without being involved in wars in a direct manner. Following the World War I during the Independence War the Greek forces managed to come as close as Sarayköy, a small town 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Denizli, but did not venture into Denizli where resistance was being prepared.

Climate
Denizli is located in Aegean Region of Turkey, but the climate is not uniformly Aegean throughout the whole province. A terrestrial climate may be felt in the center of the province, because the area is like a pathway from the seaside to inland areas. The inland area is cooler than the seaside because of these climatic differences. The land is open to winds coming from the Aegean Sea because the mountains are perpendicular to the sea. Winters are rainy or sometimes snowy, but generally mild.
Denizli today
Aside its visitor's attractions, the city of Denizli is known for its textile industry and (and outlet shopping for cut-price clothing), for connected fields of activity such as the dye industry, and for its famous cockerels. The saying goes that Denizli is known for 'kız', 'toz' and 'horoz'; respectively, the girls (the girls of the Aegean Region are famously the fairest in Turkey), the dust and the cockerels. There are statues and other images of the birds all over the city. Extremely resourceful in catchy phraseologies evolving from the folk culture, the region also affirms itself by saying "Denizli'nin horozları bellidir" (the cockerels of Denizli make themselves known).

Economy
The textile industry in Denizli grew rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s making itself a place in the domestic market and for exports. Towels and bathrobes are products associated with Denizli in particular emphasis. Thus, Denizli grew rapidly in the last decades, raising a number of very rich businessmen, some reasonable to very good restaurants, notably one renowned across Turkey for serving only mushrooms in different varieties (Mantar Restaurant), and the look and the amenities of a modern city. The biggest firms in the city include Değirmenci and Funika (especially for bathrobes).

Lifestyle
The city is quite smart with trees along the main avenues and lovely views of the surrounding mountains from many locations. As Denizli has prospered in the 90s new compounds of luxury villas have sprung up on the city's outskirts in areas like Çamlık. In the city itself air pollution from coal-fired central-heating becomes a problem in winter. There are some highly-regarded high schools and Pamukkale University opened in the 1990s, now in phase of academic maturing. Many young people still leave to go to university in İzmir, Ankara or Istanbul, and sometimes stay there to build careers.

Culture and entertainment
There are large shops, bars and cafes, even some live music, although this is a city that grew recently and is located deep in the countryside. The presence of Pamukkale University improves the cultural amenities of the city. The region's inhabitants have been influenced by the production of grapes and the wine since centuries and a joyful culture is present in Denizli, although it is coupled with hard working and creative thinking, reflected in an apparent conservatism. For example, it is sometimes difficult to get a license to sell alcohol.

On the other hand, the new wealth in Denizli has been much more rapid than many other places in Turkey in investing in developing an urban culture. Many private clubs and associations are opening up including: The society for the Protection of the Environment and History of Denizli; The Poets and Poetry Lovers Association; the Pizza Appreciation Group and the Jazz-rock Local. There is an annual amateur theatre festival, attended by groups from Turkey and overseas. Denizli has the second-largest number of ranking chess-players in Turkey, after Istanbul. Also, inspired by the unusually high reports of UFO sightings in the region over the years, one of the world's handful of museums dedicated to ufology was recently opened in Denizli.

Food and drink
The wines of the Pamukkale winery are mostly made from traditional Turkish grapes such as Tokat, Narince and Çalkarası, although now they are planting Shiraz in the area too. They also make a well-known cherry wine. The Denizli kebab is roast lamb served on flat bread. Zafer Gazozu is a locally produced fizzy lemonade.

Transportation
Denizli airport is about 45 minutes drive from the city. There is direct flight almost everyday from Istanbul usually in the morning and back to Istanbul in the evening both with Turkish Airlines. The ticket would cost approximately $60.

Driving time to the capital city of Ankara is approximately 7 hours.

Driving time to İzmir is approximately 3 hours, with special alertness to be preserved at all times during the extremely busy Denizli-Aydın section. The extension of İzmir-Aydın highway to Denizli, to better benefit the production hub that Büyük Menderes River valley is, remains announced since years. Initial infrastructure is laid in Aydın, but the rest is yet to come and the present Aydın-Denizli road, although straight and flat, has a very high level of traffic, especially trucks, with each town along the road possessing its own industrial zone.

Places of interest
Laodicea ad Lycum - 6 km (4 mi) north of Denizli near the village of Eskihisar. The city was established by Seleucid King, Antiochus II in honor of his wife, Laodice. This trading city was famous for its woolen and cotton cloths. A letter written by a Laodecian says; “I am happy. I have fortune and I am not in need of anything.” Following a large earthquake which destroyed the city, what remains of the ancient city are one of the seven churches of Asia Minor, the stadium, the amphitheatre and the odeon, the cistern and the aqueduct. (see further Laodicean Church)
Hierapolis and Pamukkale World Heritage Sites -20 km north of Denizli Pamukkale traventines. The city of Hierapolis was founded by the Pergamon King Eumenes II in 190 B.C. Its closeness to Laodicea led to commercial and military rivalry. The town was built in Greek style. Despite suffering a violent earthquake in 17 A.D., it reached its peak during the Roman and Byzantine periods. It was reconstructed during the 2nd and 3rd Centuries in stone from quarries in the area, in a Roman style. The town had its most glorious years during the reign of Roman Emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla and became an episcopal seat during the expansion of Christianity. However, as a result of several earthquakes, the most violent of which was in 1354, a great part of the town was destroyed, and its people migrated.
The Seljuq caravanserai Akhan, which is 6km from Denizli City on the Ankara highway, and a great part of which still remains, was constructed by Karasungur bin Abdullah in 1253-54 when he was acting as the commander of Ladik. It is recently restored along with the Ottoman konaks nearby and is set to become a visitor's attraction by its own right.
Honaz mountain is a popular picnic excursion for Denizli's people in summer.
The nearby village of Goncalı, which is on the railway line, is another excursion. People come to eat the charcoal-grilled thinly-cut kebab called Çöp Şiş, preferably with the local süzme yoghurt and a glass of rakı.
The statue of Atatürk at Çınar Meydanı in the city centre is renowned for the large testicles on the horse that Atatürk is riding.
Servergazi turbesi is located close to the Yenişehir neighborhood. The tomb of the 12th century Turkish commander of the Seljuk akinci unit is located there. Many locals enjoy visiting and making prayers at the tomb especially on weekends.
Notable natives
Ahmet Nazif Zorlu - Businessman
Sezen Aksu - Pop singer
Bayram Şit - Olympic medalist in wrestling
Cem Bahtiyar - bassist in the Ankara-based rock group maNga. (Born in Denizli 1979)
Hasan Güngör - Olympic medalis in wrestling
Nezih Altin - a well known physicist. Currently residing in Adıyaman.
Özay Gönlüm - folk singer (1940-2000)
Rıza Esendemir Istanbul Best FM radio DJ
Sarp - rock singer

emeğine sağlık beyzacığım ...

yha lütfen bana yaRdm edn bana gaziantep lazımm

Gaziantep

Gaziantep (Ottoman Turkish; Ayintap), previously and as still used informally; Antep), is the capital city of Gaziantep Province in Turkey. The city has two central districts under its administration, Şahinbey and Şehitkamil, and the metropolitan area has a a total population of 1,237,874 (2007) and an area of 2,138 km².
Known by the ancient Greeks and the Romans as Doliche or Dolichenus (Turkish: Dülük), and by the Arabs, Seljuks, and Ottomans as ʿAintab or Aïntab, officially named Gaziantep since February 8, 1921, the city today is the sixth largest in Turkey and the largest city in Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region.
History
Antiquity
Gaziantep is the probable site of the Hellenistic city of Antiochia ad Taurum ("Antiochia in the Taurus Mountains"). The ruins of the Doliche (Turkish: Dülük) lie a few kilometers to the north of the city center and they are located in the natural setting of a forest arranged into a recreational area also including picnic and camping facilities.
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Gaziantep is one of the most developed provinces of the region and is also one of the oldest, its history reaching as far back as the Hittites. Being the center of pistachio cultivation in Turkey and with its extensive olive groves and vineyards, Gaziantep is one of the important agricultural and industrial centres of Turkey.
In the center of the city stands the Gaziantep Fortress and the Ravanda citadel as reminders of past. The Archaeological Museum, with its important collections from Neolithic and the Hittite ages as well as the Roman and Commagene times, attracts many visitors. A recent addition to the Museum's riches is the Roman mozaics discovered in Zeugma. The surroundings of the city are also full of valuable Hittite remains. The Hasan Süzer House, which has been restored to its original state, now houses the Ethnographical Museum. Yesemek Sculpture Workshop, 30 kilometers south of the town of Islahiye, is one of the world's first of this kind. Some of the other historical remains are the Zeugma (called also Belkıs in Turkish), and Kargamış ruins by the town of Nizip and slightly more to the north, Rumkale.

Ottoman period
In the Ottoman period, Aintab was in the eyalet of Aleppo (vilayet after 1864).

Demographics
According to the Ottoman census of 1543, the Aintab subdivision of the governorate-general of Aleppo contained fifteen tribes, all Turkmen. Much of the Aintab elite was also of Turkmen origin. In the same period, Aintab's demographic makeup stood out from the rest of Aleppo province or other surrounding provinces, since its non-Muslim population was relatively small and uniformly Armenian Christian, while the neighboring governorate-general of Dulkadir (Maraş) was approximately 4,5% non-Muslim and that of Diyarbakır was approximately 15 per cent. At that period Aintab appears to have had no Jewish community, although a Jewish financier, most probably based in Aleppo, figured prominently in the city's economic and administrative life.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1911, by the end of the 19th century, it had a population of about 45,000, 2/3 of which was Muslim, largely Yörük Türkmens. The presence of a Jewish community can be inferred from the frequency of the surname "Antebi" among Syrian Jews.

Of the Christians, the majority were Armenian. The Gregorian Armenians suffered from the massacres of 1895, but the Armenian Protestants thrived, drawn by the American Mission Board's Central Turkey College. There was a sizable Armenian population in the city before World War I, but after the Armenian Genocide and the Franco-Turkish War between 1919-1921, there were almost no Armenians left. The remains of old Armenian churches may still be found, but they are mostly unmarked.

Economy
Gaziantep is famous for its regional specialties: the copper-ware products and "yemeni" slippers, specific to the region, are two examples. The city is an economical center of South Eastern and Eastern Turkey. The number of large industry businesses established in Gaziantep comprise four percent of the Turkish industry in general, and small industries comprise six percent. Also Gaziantep has the largest organized industrial area in Turkey and holds first position export and import goods.

Gaziantep also has a developing tourist industry. Development around the base of the castle upgrades the beauty and accessibility to the castle and to the surrounding copper workshops. New restaurants and tourist friendly businesses are moving into the area. In comparison with some other regions of Turkey, tourists are still a novelty in Gaziantep and the locals make them very welcome. Many of the students studying English language are willing to be guides for tourists.

Gaziantep is one of the leading producers of machined carpets in the world. It exported approximately $700 million USD of machine-made carpets in 2006. There are over 100 carpet facilities in the Gaziantep Organized Industrial Zone.

Gaziantep also produced 60,000 MT of pistachios in 2007. Turkey is third in pistachio production in the world, after Iran and USA.

Culture

Gaziantep is well-known for its culinary specialties, which show Kurdish, Arabic and Assyrian in addition to Turkish, influences. The festive food yuvalama (rice and meat rolled into pea-sized balls), the delicious lahmacun (also known as Turkish pizza) and baklava are some examples.
Education
Gaziantep Anatolian High School (founded in 1976) is a public school focusing on English language education.

Gaziantep Science High School is a public boarding high school in Gaziantep, Turkey with a curriculum concentrating on natural sciences and mathematics, and with teaching in Turkish and English.

The main campus of Gaziantep University is located 10 kilometers away from the city center. The institution acquired state university status in 1987, but had already offered higher education since 1973 as an extension campus of the Middle East Technical University.
Popular culture
Gaziantep was made famous in Greece by the Turkish TV ****** "Yabancı Damat" (literally The Foreign Groom), known in Greece as Τα σύνορα της Αγάπης (The Borders of Love), a love story between a Greek and a Turk.
Notable people from Gaziantep
Ahmet Ümit - writer, poet
Doğu Perinçek - leader of Worker's Party (Turkey)
Edip Akbayram - singer
Kenan Doğulu - singer
Onat Kutlar - writer, poet
Seza Kutlar Aksoy - children's literature writer
Tiran Nersoyan - Armenian archbishop and deposed Patriarch of Jerusalem
Ülkü Tamer - writer, poet
Yağmur Atacan - musician

süpeRsin thank you

bunLaRı neRden buLuyosunuz???

KONYA


Konya (Ottoman Turkish: قونیه; also Koniah, Konieh, Konia, and Qunia; historically also known as Iconium (Latin), Greek: Ἰκόνιον Ikónion) is a city in Turkey, on the central plateau of Anatolia. It has a population of 1,412,343 (in 2007).
Ancient history
Excavations have shown that the region was inhabited during the Late Copper Age, around 3000 BC. The city came under the influence of the Hittites around 1500 BC. These were overtaken by the Indo-European Sea Peoples around 1200 BC. The Phrygians established their kingdom in central Anatolia in the 8th century BC. Xenophon describes Iconium, as the city was called, as the last city of Phrygia. The region was overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders c. 690 BC. It was later part of the Persian Empire, until Darius III was defeated by Alexander the Great in 333 BC. Alexander's empire broke up shortly after his death and the town came under the rule of Seleucus I Nicator. During the Hellenistic period the town was ruled by the kings of Pergamon. When Attalus III, the last king of Pergamon, died childless, he bequeathed his empire to Rome. Under the rule of emperor Claudius, the city's name was changed to Claudioconium, and during the rule of emperor Hadrianus to Colonia Aelia Hadriana.
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Iconium was visited by Saint Paul and Barnabas, according to the Book of Acts, in 47, 50 and 53 AD. In Christian legend, it was also the birthplace of Saint Thecla. During the Byzantine Empire the town was destroyed several times by Arab invaders in the 7th-9th centuries.
Seljuk era
The city was captured by the Seljuk Turks following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and from 1097 to 1243 it was the capital of Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate, though very briefly occupied by the Crusaders Godfrey of Bouillon (August 1097) and Frederick Barbarossa (May 18, 1190). The name of the town was changed to Konya by Rukn al-Dīn Mas'ūd in 1134.
Konya reached its height of wealth and influence as of the second half of the 12th century when Anatolian Seljuk sultans also subdued the Turkish Beyliks to their east, especially that of Danishmends, thus establishing their rule over virtually all of eastern Anatolia, as well as acquiring several port towns along the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and even gaining a momentary foothold in Crimea. This golden age lasted until the first decades of the 13th century.

By the 1220s, the city was filled with refugees from the Khwarezmid Empire, fleeing the advance of the Mongol Empire. Sultan Alā al-Dīn Kayqubād bin Kaykā'ūs fortified the town and built a palace on top of the citadel. In 1228 he invited Bahaeddin Veled and his son Mevlana, the founder of the Mevlevi order, to settle in Konya.

In 1243, following the Seljuk defeat in the Battle of Köse Dag, Konya was captured by Mongols as well. The city remained the capital of Seljuk sultans, vassalized to the Ilkhanate until the end of the century.

Following the fall of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate, Konya was made an emirate in 1307 which lasted until 1322 when the city was captured by the Beylik of Karamanoğlu. In 1420, Karamanoğlu fell to the Ottoman Empire and, in 1453, Konya was made the provincial capital of the Ottoman Province of Karaman.
Ottoman Era
Under the Ottoman Empire, in the vilayet system established after 1864, Konya was the seat of the Vilayet of Konya

According to 1896 census, Konya had a population slightly above forty thousand, of which 42,318 Muslims, 1,566 Christian Armenians and 899 Christian Greeks. There were also 21 mosques and 5 Churches in the town. A still-standing Catholic church was also built for Italian railroad workers in the 1910s. By 1927, after the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923, the city was almost exclusively Muslim.
Universities
Konya is home to Selçuk University, one of the largest universities in Turkey.
Points in history
The tomb of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the Persian mystical poet commonly known as "Mevlâna" to his citizens and who is the founder of the Sufi Mevlevi order (famous for The Whirling Dervishes), is located in Konya where he had spent the last fifty years of his life.
Ibn Arabi, the great Sufi visited Konya in 1207 on the invitation of the Seljuq governor of that time and married there with the mother of his disciple Sadreddin Konevi.
Hazrat Shah Jalal was born in 1271 in Konya.
Notable Structures
Alaeddin Mosque
Ince Minaret Medrese Museum
Karatay Medrese Museum
Mevlana Museum, formerly the tekke of Mevlana
Culture
Alongside a generally high level of instruction and very modern buildings, Konya has a reputation of being one of the more religiously conservative metropolitan centers in Turkey.
One of the best known Turkish folk songs is named "Konyalım" (making reference to a loved one from Konya). The song's slightly suggestive lyrics are known virtually by everybody in Turkey.

ALINTIDIR

Situated at an altitude of 1016 meters in the south central region of the vast Anatolian steppe, the city of Konya is famous far beyond the borders of Turkey. The city's renown derives from the nearby ruins of Catal Huyuk and, more so, from the shrine of Rumi, the great Sufi poet (1207-1273). Fifty kilometers southeast of Konya, the Neolithic settlement of Catal Huyuk has been dated to 7500 BC, making it one of the oldest known human communities. Though only partially excavated and restored, the hilltop settlement covers 15 acres and reveals sophisticated town planning, religious art and ceremonial buildings. Remains of numerous other ancient settlements have been discovered on the Konya plain, giving evidence that humans have long favored this region.


The city of Konya has been known by different names through the ages. Nearly 4000 years ago the Hittites called it Kuwanna, to the Phrygians it was Kowania, to the Romans Iconium and to the Turks, Konya. During Roman times, the city was visited by St. Paul and because of its location on ancient trade routes, it continued to thrive during the Byzantine era. Konyas golden age was in the 12th and 13th centuries when it was the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. The Seljuk Turks had ruled a great state encompassing Iran, Iraq and Anatolia. With the decline of the Seljuk state in the early 12th century, different parts of the empire became independent, including the Sultanate of Rum. Between 1150 and 1300, the Sultans of Rum beautified Konya, erecting many lovely buildings and mosques. It was during this period that Rumi came to live in Konya. Mevlana Rumi is generally known in the west simply by the epithet Rumi (which means Anatolian) or in the east as Maulana Rumi. In Turkey he is universally referred to as Mevlana (the Turkish spelling of Maulana - which means 'Our Master').


Born in 1207 in the town of Balkh in Khurasan (near Mazar-I-Sharif in contemporary Afghanistan), Jalal al-Din Rumi was the son of a brilliant Islamic scholar. At the age of 12, fleeing the Mongol invasion, he and his family went first to Mecca and then settled in the town of Rum in 1228. Rumi was initiated into Sufism by Burhan al-Din, a former pupil of his father's, under whose tutelage he progressed through the various teachings of the Sufi tradition. After his father's death in 1231, Rumi studied in Aleppo and Damascus and, returning to Konya in 1240, became a Sufi teacher himself. Within a few years a group of disciples gathered around him, due to his great eloquence, theological knowledge and engaging personality.


In 1244 a strange event occurred that was to profoundly change Rumi's life and give rise to the extraordinary outpouring of poetry for which he is famous today. A wandering mystic known as Shams al-Din of Tabriz came to Konya and began to exert a powerful influence on Rumi. For Rumi, the holy man represented the perfect and complete man, the true image of the 'Divine Beloved', which he had long been seeking. Despite his own position as a teacher (a Sufi sheikh), Rumi became utterly devoted to Shams al-Din, ignored his own disciples and departed from scholarly studies. Jealous of his influence on their master, a group of Rumi's own students twice drove the dervish away and finally murdered him in 1247. Overwhelmed by the loss of Shams al-Din, Rumi withdrew from the world to mourn and meditate. During this time he began to manifest an ecstatic love of god that was expressed through sublimely beautiful poetry, listening to devotional music and trance dancing.


Over the next twenty-five years, Rumi's literary output was truly phenomenal. In addition to the Mathnawi, which consists of six books or nearly 25,000 rhyming couplets, he composed some 2500 mystical odes and 1600 quatrains. Virtually all of the Mathnawi was dictated to his disciple Husam al-Din in the fifteen years before Rumi's death. Mevlana (meaning 'Our Guide') would recite the verses whenever and wherever they came to him - meditating, dancing, singing, walking, eating, by day or night - and Husam al-Din would record them. Writing of Rumi and his poetry, Malise Ruthven (Islam in the World) says, "No doubt the Mathnawi's emotional intensity derives in part from the poet's own vulnerable personality: his longing for love is sublimated into a kind of cosmic yearning. The Love Object, though divine and therefore unknowable, yields a very human kind of love. In the Quran a remote and inaccessible deity addresses man through the mouth of his Prophet. In the Mathnawi it is the voice of the human soul, bewailing its earthly exile, which cries out, seeking reunification with its creator."


Rumi teachings expressed that love is the path to spiritual growth and insight. Broadly tolerant of all people and other faiths, he says,

Whoever you may be, come
Even though you may be
An infidel, a pagan, or a fire-worshipper, come
Our brotherhood is not one of despair
Even though you have broken
Your vows of repentance a hundred times, come.

Rumi is also well known for the Sufi brotherhood he established with its distinctive whirling and circling dance, known as Sema and practiced by the Dervishes. The Sema ceremony, in seven parts, represents the mystical journey of an individual on their ascent through mind and love to union with the divine. Mirroring the revolving nature of existence and all living things, the Sufi dervish turns toward the truth, grows through love, abandons ego, and embraces perfection. Then he returns from this spiritual journey as one who has reached perfection in order to be of love and service to the entire creation. Dressed in long white gowns (the ego's burial shroud) and wearing high, cone-shaped hats (the ego's tombstone), the dervish dances for hours at a time. With arms held high, the right hand lifted upward to receive blessings and energy from heaven, the left hand turned downward to bestow these blessing on the earth, and the body spinning from right to left, the dervish revolves around the heart and embraces all of creation with love. The dervishes form a circle, each turning in harmony with the rhythm of the accompanying music as the circle itself moves around, slowly picking up speed and intensity until all collapse in a sort of spiritual exaltation.
Kaynak: ReformTürk http://www.reformturk.com/illerin-ingilizce-tanitimi/49210-herhangi-bir-ilin-ingilizce-tanitimi-turkiyeden.html#post112984


Rumi passed away on the evening of December 17, 1273, a time traditionally known as his 'wedding night,' for he was now completely united with god. In the centuries following Rumi's death, many hundreds of dervish lodges were established throughout the Ottoman domains in Turkey, Syria and Egypt, and several Ottoman Sultans were Sufis of the Mevlevi order. During the later Ottoman period, the dervishes acquired considerable power in the sultan's court. With the secularization of Turkey following World War I, the Mevlevi Brotherhood (and many others) were seen as reactionary and dangerous to the new republic, and were therefore banned in 1925. While their properties were confiscated, members of the Mevlevi Brotherhood continued their religious practices in secret until their ecstatic dance were again allowed in 1953.


The former monastery of the whirling dervishes of Konya was converted into a museum in 1927. While the dervishes have been banned from using this facility, it functions as both museum and shrine. In its main room (Mevlana Turbesi) may be seen the tomb of Mevlana covered with a large velvet cloth embroidered in gold. Adjacent to Rumi's burial is that of his father, Baha al-Din Valed, whose sarcophagus stands upright, for legends tell that when Rumi was buried, his father's tomb "rose and bowed in reverence." The tombs of Rumi's son and other Sufi sheikhs are clustered about the shrine. The burials of Rumi, his father and several others are capped with huge turbans, these being symbolic of the spiritual authority of Sufi teachers. The Mevlana Turbesi dates from Seljuk times while the adjoining mosque and the rooms surrounding the shrine were added by Ottoman sultans. Formerly used as quarters for the dervishes, these rooms are now furnished as they would have been during the time of Rumi, with mannequins dressed in period costumes. Within one room there is a casket containing a hair from the beard of Muhammad.

Each year on December 17th a religious celebration is held at the site of Rumi's tomb, to which tens of thousands of pilgrims come. In the shrine there is a silver plated step on which the followers of Mevlana rub their foreheads and place kisses. This area is usually cordoned off but is opened for these devotional actions during the December pilgrimage festivities. In addition to the shrine of Rumi, pilgrims to Konya will visit the shrine of Hazrat Shemsuddin of Tabriz (traditionally visited before the shrine of Rumi), the shrine of Sadreduddin Konevi (a disciple of Hazrat ibn Arabi and a contemporary of Mevlana), the shrine of Yusuf Atesh-Baz Veli, and the shrine of Tavus Baba (who may in fact have been a women and therefore Tavus Ana). Within the museum of Rumi there is a map that shows the location of these various holy sites.

Shrine of Jalaluddin Rumi, Konya



Mausoleum of Rumi



Shrine of Jalaluddin Rumi, Konya



Shrine of Jalaluddin Rumi, Konya