Ankara-Cental Anatolia Tour (Day III)

Today was our last full day in Turkey. We spent the morning visiting the Museum of Anatolian Civilization. The museum has priceless collections stretching from prehistoric times (we saw many artifacts from the Catalhoyuk site we visited) to the classical (again we saw many artifacts from the ancient sites we visited-Pergamun, Ephesus, Aphrodisias, and Hieropolis). It is one of the world's greatest museums and is housed in a restored Ottoman Han. Then it was lunch with the Eurasian Strategic Research Foundation followed by an informative briefing on Turkish domestic/foreign policy issues.

In the afternoon we visited the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. After spending two weeks here in Turkey, it was fitting to end our trip here with this visit. His presence has been felt constantly...his image is in every classroom in Turkey, statues of him are in all public institutions and main squares throughout the country. School children learn about his life story and on November 10th of every year, the country comes to a standstill on the stroke of 9:05 to commemorate his death in 1938. Ataturk is Turkey's hero for sure and perhaps it can be argued more than that...for he is the embodiment of Turkey's secular modernization, "Kemalism" and as such a counter to of the growing Islamic ideological movement.

So we made our way past two towers, down a stone walkway, flanked by two lions, Hittite symbols of power and strength. The design of the stones forced upon us the need to always look down instilling in us a posture of respect in the presence of this great man's final resting place. We eventually came to the museum of Ataturk, where we walked through what has to be described as a surreal journey through Ataturk's life and accomplishments, memorabilia and personal effects. And finally we walked up the grand marble stairway of Ataturk's Mausoleum and through the huge bronze doors into the lofty marble hall and paused for a moment in front of the cenotaph marking the final resting place of the country's first president.

Then it was onto the bus for one final journey together to the Ministry of Education for a farewell reception. We were given a briefing on Turkish Education and afterwards chit chatted with the Turkish educators present and gave our farewell gifts to Hulya, our Turkish Foundation liason person and to Serhan, or illustrious tour guide for the trip. Then it was back to the hotel for one last eveing in Turkey before our 9 am flight back to the states.