Turkey has a storied past. We visited the archeological museum in Kars, the eastern-most city in Turkey. We've been experiencing similar discontinuities in museums and archeological ruins in other locations here. 






The Silk Road came through here, and also through Armenia to the east. And a major hub of that trade network was centered in Greece. Like the Oregon Trail in the US, it was not one pathway. It also wandered through Georgia, Persia, Russia and some aquatic routes. It carried much more than silk and spices and pottery and other physical trade goods. It mixed people, brought slaves and livestock, transported ideas and religions, and occasionally brought diseas


Over thousands of years, what it left behind was a patchwork of peoples holding different languages, religions, cultures, styles of dress, music, food, and so much more. Ironically instead of mixing with each other and growing and learning, they all hated each other and would routinely go out and wage war on each other. So that's where we are today




Starting around 1900, the Ottoman Empire was dying. The Turkic people rose up to try to keep it together, and ended up with the territory we now call Turkey. But there were lots of inholdings within their new country, of Kurds, Armenians, Persians, Greeks and more. Plus, Greece was trying to take back some of Turkey that they felt entitled to, and lots of ethnic Greeks lived there. So we got the Greco-Turkish war. 

Around this same time Germany was feeling similar, and both decided that a more ethnically pure country would be an excellent idea. And so they collaborated. We all know what happened in Germany. But Turkey went first. Armenian enclaves aligned with the Greeks, who both happened to be Christian. But the new Turkish army was ultimately successful and drove out the Greeks and Armenians, killing most of them in what is known as the Armenian Genocide. But they mostly did it in secret with a media blackout. To this day Turkey describes that period of history as a 'misunderstanding'. They don't teach about it. They object when any other country tries to label it a genocide. They actively try to erase their history


Back to the museum. Artifacts here go back 10,000 years to when hunter-gatherers settled down and grew wheat and herded livestock, to, pretty much continuously, the present day. Which is impressive in its own way. Not far from here is the ruins of the city of Ani (which we plan to visit) which was a major Armenian city. And the museum holds many artifacts from there. They are labeled 'Ani' never Armenian. Anything from the Greeks is labeled Roman. Anything Kurdish or from others is 'Anatolian'. These are safe labels

We go to museums to learn the history. But rarely is it that simple. Being at a historic site brings history to life in ways that my high school classroom never could. But even so, we find we need to augment the narrative with knowledge from other museums, from the internet,  from Wikipedia, from museums in other countries, plus talking with local people, and seeing the places in person.



   . . ar. . e. 




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