Turkish Whistling Language

As I was reviewing videos from my time in Turkey, I found this little treasure. . . I remember in my introductory linguistics class learning about a unique dialect of Turkish centered around Kuşköy, Giresun where the sounds of Turkish are expressed in coded whistle sounds. As an avid whistler myself, I was excited to meet people who were actually familiar with this language, a family on vacation from Girseun to Batumi, Georgia. Here is a video of him welcoming me in whistled Turkish, followed by an English news story on Kuşköy and the whistling language.

Karadeniz | Black Sea Region

Trying the Tulum, a Turkish bagpipe

Around two weeks ago I went on a small trip to Turkey's Eastern Black Sea Region with my friend Sebastien to visit our mutual friend Sema and her family outside the village of Hemşin.
 As someone interested in carpentry, I was very impressed by the workmanship of the wooden architecture in the region, which I was told is made over the winter and then assembled in just a week on the property... a very impressive Turkish answer to prefab housing or Amish barn raising.

View from the house

 The region is lush and very hilly, and the landscape is full of homemade cable-cars that resemble rowboats that traverse the many valleys and deliver people or supplies to hilltop homes.

Sebastien and Sema's Mom

An abandoned house in the mountains above Hemşin

A wooden stilt-house

Photos from Mardin & Hasankeyf

Diyarbakır...

Sorry for the short break. Blogspot was banned briefly and then my computer crashed. . . Here are a few more photos from South Eastern Anatolia. I've also included the photo to the right for those interested in politics.

"How happy we are to call ourselves Türks"

Mardin

Mardin

Mardin

Hasankeyf

Near Hasankeyf 

Near Hasankeyf

Hasankeyf

Photos from Urfa

Balıkgölü

Taxi Driver

Tinner

Pigeon Coffee House