Speaking of Turkey, you may have read about it in Agatha's detective novel "Murder on the Orient Express", the legendary trans-Eurasian train active in the 19th and 20th centuries, starting in Istanbul, Turkey.
Last year, Turkey applied to the United Nations to change its name from "Turkey" to "Türkiye." The English word "Turkey" has the meaning of "turkey" (it is actually guinea fowl, which is named "turkey" because it is sold from Turkey to Europe, but this bird has nothing to do with "turkey"), and also derives the meaning of "stupid, fool". Turkey believes that its name has affected the country's image and has to apply for a change.
This Asian country with European culture attracts us not only by its history, but also by its peculiar landscape and Islamic culture. Today, Huan Yuejun will talk to you about the civilizational monuments that collapsed in the earthquake in Turkey.
Turkey is located in the Eurasian seismic zone
Perhaps you've been surprised by the power of the Ottoman Empire, the first empire founded by the Turks that dominated the overland lines of communication between Eastern and Western civilizations for six centuries. The Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul that you see in world history are all the old names of the three ancient empires - the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Ottoman capital Istanbul, and today's Turkish capital is Ankara, the second largest city after Istanbul.
The word Turkey evolved from "Turkic". In Tatar, Turkic means "brave" and Turkish means "country of brave men". Straddling Europe and Asia, Turkey has long been known as the world's energy corridor and known as the "cradle of civilization", with 97% of its territory located in Asia Minor in Asia Minor and 3% in the Balkans in Europe. Turkey is a crossroads connecting Europe and Asia. It is bordered by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, Syria and Iraq to the southeast; It is bordered by the Aegean Sea to the west and borders with Greece and Bulgaria; It borders Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the east.
The Turks are mixed descendants of Turkic peoples and the original inhabitants of the Mediterranean, who belong to the European race. It was Ottoman I who established the first empire for the Turks. After the destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire, the capital was Constantinople, which was later renamed Istanbul. The sultan, the monarch of the ancient Ottoman Empire, regarded himself as the lord of the world, integrating the traditions of nomadic tribes, the artistic cultivation of Persia, the political civilization of Byzantium and the scientific culture of Arabia, and inherited the Eastern Roman Empire and Islamic culture, so that Eastern and Western civilizations were integrated here.
The Eurasian seismic belt, also known as the Mediterranean seismic belt, one of the world's two major seismic zones, crosses three countries including Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan. These three countries happen to be the most earthquake-hit countries in the Middle East. Most of the other countries in the Middle East are located at the junction of the Eurasian plate, the African plate, and the Indian and Australian plates. This special geographical environment determines that the earthquake damage in the Middle East is very serious. In Turkey, for example, 95% of the country's population and 92% of its land area are in various levels of seismic risk zones.
The earthquake, a ferocious and destructive natural disaster, attracted the attention of the ancestors of the Middle East very early. An analysis of Mesopotamian clay tablets written in cuneiform writing from 3000 BC reveals information about earthquakes from ancient times, such as the time and date of the earth trembling.
In some areas, earthquakes occurred so frequently that people used them for divination, with the following text on clay tablets: "If the earthquake occurs at dawn, then the king will face a defeat." Many references to earthquakes can be found in the Bible and in the writings of other religions of the time. Notable events, such as the fall of the walls of Jericho and the cracking of the Red Sea, have been interpreted by those who do not believe in supernatural events as the result of earthquakes.
According to incomplete statistics on the historical data of earthquakes, from 3000 BC to 2000 AD, there were 1,330 large earthquakes in the Middle East, of which more than 200 were earthquakes that killed more than 5,000 people or exceeded the magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale.
Based on the number of deaths alone, according to incomplete statistics, the cumulative number of casualties caused by earthquakes in the Middle East over the past 5,000 years has exceeded 5.86 million. The deadliest earthquake disasters in world history (1.1 million deaths) occurred in Egypt and Syria in 1201.
Earthquakes are one of the most common sudden-onset natural disasters in the Middle East. Powerful earthquakes can instantly destroy the beautiful homes that human beings have spent countless efforts to build, and the huge energy of earthquakes can cause a variety of secondary disasters. For example, the energy released by a magnitude 5 earthquake is equivalent to the energy of a 20,000-ton atomic bomb explosion, and the earthquake magnitude difference is one level, and the energy difference is more than 30 times.
Stimulated by repeated earthquake disasters, some seismic building technologies have also been developed in the Middle East. King Lomon and his palace are described in the biblical Book of Kings: "... He is building an inner courtyard with three layers of split stones and one layer of cedar beams." It can be said that this is the earliest recorded earthquake-resistant building technology in the history of the Middle East. Later, some famous religious buildings in the Middle East, such as the Ayasofia Church in Istanbul and the Ahmai Sultan Mosque, used superb earthquake-proof technology, making them safe from many major earthquakes.
Vincent van Gogh, Still Life and the Bible. Source: Van Gogh Museum, The Netherlands
The Malatya Mosque collapsed and the ancient fort of Gaziantep was shattered
Two powerful earthquakes in southeastern Turkey in recent days have caused a large number of casualties between Turkey and neighboring Syria. According to past observations, strong earthquakes in Turkey tend to be more catastrophic. In the past 100 years, Turkey has had 10 earthquakes with more than 3,000 deaths, with earthquakes ranging from 7.0 to 7.9 magnitude, and earthquakes above magnitude 7 tend to cause more severe disasters.
The first 7.8 magnitude earthquake was reported to have occurred at 4:17 a.m. local time on February 6 and was centered in the Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaraş in the southeastern province. The second 7.6 magnitude earthquake occurred at 1:24 p.m. that day, with an epicenter in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş province. The two earthquakes were separated by only 9 hours. Gaziantep, Turkey's sixth-largest city, near the epicenter, suffered heavy damage to many monuments.
Alessandro Amato, director of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), said in an interview with Italy's ANSA News Agency on the 7th that the earthquake activated a new fault line located on the border of Turkey and Syria, causing a lateral movement of the ground, up to 10 meters of displacement, that is, the ground sliding horizontally along the two edges of the fault line, in the direction to the left, towards the Aegean Sea. In addition, according to the Greenland KNR broadcasting, Tina Larsen, a senior researcher at the National Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, said that the earthquake was felt in both Denmark and Greenland.
More than 6,200 buildings collapsed in the earthquake across Turkey. There are 17 World Heritage sites in Turkey, two of which are located in the earthquake zone. According to preliminary statistics, the historic new mosque (Yeni Camii) in the center of Malatya, a southeastern province of Turkey, collapsed in the earthquake on February 6. The new Malatya mosque was restored and opened for worship last year, and the mosque was built on the site of the Haci Yusuf mosque, which was destroyed in the earthquake of March 3, 1894. In addition, several workplaces at the historic coppersmiths' bazaar in Gaziantep province were damaged, and persistent heavy snowfall made rescue efforts even more difficult.
Severely damaged in the quake were the collapse of Gaziantep Castle, a thousand-year-old monument in Gaziantep province, and several buildings in Hevsel Gardens, a World Heritage Site dating back to ancient Greece and Rome. Because of this earthquake, many people learned the name "Gaziantep" for the first time.
John Singer Sargent, Entrance to the Mosque. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Located in the Two Rivers Valley, Gaziantep is the largest city along the Euphrates River, with a population of more than two million. It is a large city in southern Turkey and one of the oldest cities in the world, dating back more than 3,000 BC. In a ranking of the "Top 10 Oldest Cities in the World", Gaziantep's name is listed alongside Damascus in Syria and Western Arrangements in China.
Gaziantep's original name was Antep. After World War I, the defeated Ottoman Empire was divided and Gaziantep was captured by the French. Before it was captured, the castle was a fortress for the locals to resist the French army. Later, Antep was renamed Gaziantep, and Gazi means "hero". When the castle was opened to the public as a monument, a new Panorama Museum of the Defense and Heroism of Gaziantep was built in the fort.
The castle of Gaziantep is located on the hills of the city, and the city area preserves historical relics from many eras. It was once considered one of the best-preserved castles in Turkey, and it is believed to have been inhabited during the Stone Age. The Persians, Alexander the Great, Romans, Byzantines, and Arabs all left traces of their rule here.
Originally it was a military observatory during the Hittite Empire. Located at the commanding point of the city center, the entire city is built around the stars. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the Romans expanded it into a massive fortress. By the 6th century, Justinian the Great of the Byzantine Empire had restored the fortifications of ancient Rome, and the castle had been restored and expanded. After the rise of the Seljuk Empire founded by the Turks, the castle was rebuilt on a large scale in the 12th and 13th centuries.
In the minds of the people of Gaziantep, the castle is not only blessed with a rich history, it is regarded as a "heroic city", but also a gastronomic capital. With its ancient bazaars, alleyways, mosques, museums, grilled meats, pistachios, desserts and more, the city is a paradise for literature and history lovers. The earthquake caused the collapse of the fort on the east, south and southeast sides of the castle of Gaziantep, and the debris slipped onto the road below the hillside, causing extensive cracks in some parts of the fort.
Jérôme's Sermon at the Mosque. Source: David Osri Museum of Art
Also affected by the earthquake was the Zeuma Mosaic Museum, a world-class mosaic museum. It opened in 2005 and is one of the largest mosaic museums in the world. Lonely Planet once praised it as "a worthwhile place to travel through all of Turkey to get here." ”
The museum is the result of salvage conservation during the construction of the reservoir, and the mosaics in the museum are from the ancient city of Zeuma, more than forty kilometers from Gaziantep. The founding of Zeuma dates back to the third century BC, and later the ancient city gradually disappeared into history. In the 70s of the 20th century, Turkey developed water conservancy and launched the Anatolian Plan, which planned to build 22 dams and 19 hydropower stations on the Anatolian plateau. In 1987, when the Birejik Dam was being built on the Euphrates River, the ancient city of Zeuma was discovered by accident.
In this earthquake, a large number of monuments are also at risk from Gaziantep to Turkish cities such as Shanlıurfa, Diyarbakir, and Mardin around Gaziantep, as well as Aleppo in Syria.
The ancient city of Aleppo, inscribed on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger in 1986, was hit hard by the quake, with the west tower of the old city wall having collapsed and several buildings in the souks having collapsed.
Ancient castles in Aleppo, Syria, thousands of years, Akkadian Empire, Assyrian Empire, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Arab... More than 45 empires or local regimes once ruled it. Located in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia, this large medieval castle was built in the 13th century and is considered one of the oldest and largest castles in the world.
Towering over a conical hill in the center of the city, it is known for its sturdyness. In the beginning, Aleppo Ancient Castle was home to temples of the ancient Babylonian and Assyrian kingdoms, which were converted into fortified acropolises and military fortresses from ancient Greek and Roman times.
After the quake, a statement from Syria's General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums said "part of the Ottoman mill inside the castle" had collapsed, while "part of the northeastern defensive wall had broken and collapsed." Part of the dome of the minaret of the Ayyubid Mosque inside the castle fell off, and the entrance to the fortress was damaged, "including the entrance to the Mamluk Pagoda".
According to Turkey's Liberty Daily, UNESCO is investigating the damage to ancient sites in the earthquake-stricken area and will start protecting and strengthening these sites as soon as possible.