I am in Harran…
Thanks to our brother-in-law who draws a rising graph at various levels of security, we have the opportunity to visit Turkey.. With the sanctions of the concept of oriental service, each new appointment of my brother-in-law becomes a new travel route for us.. It’s almost time for Şanlıurfa.
The Şanlıurfa I envisioned is a barren, treeless and yellow city.. The existence of classical narratives about the East and the visualizations about the city are running through my head.
People with a pouch around their neck are driving at the wheel at the entrance to the city.. Am I right in my re-enactments?
We are reaching the lodgings of the Police Department with difficulty.. The vehicle with license plate 35 looks strange on the streets where 63 is busy.
People look out for those who get down from 35.
We enter the lodging with a big surprise and we long for our relatives whom we have not seen for years.
They can’t get over their amazement. We are as surprised as they are.
The reason for our amazement is that we try to overcome the way we rest from time to time for almost 24 hours.. It seems that our arrival in Şanlıurfa, which we have been eagerly awaiting, at the end of our exhaustion, will keep us a little bit more surprised.. It doesn’t happen all of a sudden to get used to it.
***
After a short sitting and a rest, you need to go to the places to visit one by one.. Our target is the town of Harran, which we are all curious about.
Harran is one of the southern districts of Şanlıurfa.. The district, which contains the widest plains, is also a center of attraction with its mystical settlements.
Our 44-kilometer Harran journey starts off with difficulty.. When the heat of the air and the disorder of the roads are combined, the inside of the car becomes unbearable.
The asphalt that does not rise even half an inch along the road continues at the same level.. There is not a single tree in the vicinity.
People living in the region have taken the tree as a product of fear because it has suffered from blood feuds and hostilities.. Not planting trees has been a tradition for years.. The existence of trees is considered to be an element that will endanger the safety of people.. Your enemies may approach you through trees and come across you unexpectedly.. Empty lands except military areas and a few official institutions. Most of them seem abandoned with a salty bad image.. Agriculture did not work here.
We are coming to a crossroads 11 kilometers from the Syrian border.. If we go straight, if we turn left to the border where the two countries intersect, we will go to the town of Harran.. We turn left.
It takes a thousand witnesses to call the district that welcomes us with dome houses made of mud as a district.. As we enter the district, which has a backward view from the villages in the Aegean Region, a mixed crowd of children surrounds our car.
My cousins, who are used to the situation, say to calm down.
As soon as we get out of the car, the children learn about the region. they say they want to give. After rejecting children from all age groups, we start walking.
***
The world’s first university was established in Harran!
I am surprised when I hear this.. Actually, we shouldn’t be surprised. We all know the importance of the Mesopotamian region from the earliest known years of history and what it witnessed.. It is also necessary to question why the region where the world’s first university was founded is so backward today.
To commemorate the past, they named the university established in Şanlıurfa as Harran University. our trip is interrupted by the heat after Harran. In order not to be affected further and not to feel bad, we leave the Harran Plain by walking through the historical ruins.
We need to lie down and rest a little…