9.05.2001 Erzurum - A Windswept Town

Cass writes...

It's that time of day again. The Tanoy crackles. A throat is cleared. In near perfect unison, the valley is filled with ricocheting azans, clashing from a dozen mosques scattered across town. Strategically placed, the closest 'Muezzin' has the lungs of an opera singer, belting out his calls to prayer, carrying far across the rooftops.

Looking out from the top of the hill, the effect is all the more dramatic when set in context: rolling steppe, snowy peaks and an empty plateau, buffeted by a storm that swirls the clouds and darkens the sky. We stand and listen, for there is no effect greater than the call to prayer that reminds us where we are. And like clockwork, this barrage of sound stops as abruptly as it began. The valley is filled with silence, until noisy cars, trucks and urban life below becomes discernible once more.

We're in Erzurum, the highest and most exposed city in Turkey, some 2000 metres in altitude. It's cold and windswept region, the houses here a washed out shade that barely lifts them from the muted tones around. It's a desolate place but the people are warm and friendly. Just a few hundred kilometres from the border of Iran, the influence of its conservative neighbour can be strongly felt. A huge shift from liberated Istanbul and the tourist magnet of Cappadocia. Women in full chador peer from black cloaks. Old men, bearded and time-worn, sit respectfully thumbing prayer beads, greeting each other with the traditional citation: Salem Alekum 'Peace be upon you'.

Three years ago the roads were too dangerous to travel, as tension between the Kurdish separatists and Turkish military reach flashpoint. Though we see no military presence, even today there remain some 70 000 troops stationed in this town alone, of some 600 000 across Eastern Turkey. Closer to the Armenian border, curfews remain and its inadvisable to journey at night.

I roll down from the vantage point of a crumbling citadel and shelter from the driving rain in an old chai house. It's complete with Turkmen carpets, perfect for lounging, and thick slabs of tree trunks as tables. I can Imagine this little den in deepest winter, the streets coated under a foot of snow, the wood burner working overtime to keep the steaming chai flowing.

Erzurum was once an important junction on the Silk Road. It' s the starting point to our own journey on this ancient trade route. It seems apt that this town evokes the emptiness of the Central Asian steppe and the road we will soon be travelling.