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Map of Turkey. The distance between Sofia and Ani is 2,000 kilometers. Blue = bus, green = hitchhike, red = train. Google Maps.
I crossed Turkey by bus. In Istanbul there is a huge bus station with connections to all parts of the country.
Leaving Istanbul
My second bus connection ended in Refahiye, and I should wait 12 hours for the next connection. Instead I hitchhiked to Erzincan. The road is wide, but very few cars.
A farmer pulled over.
These gentlemen gave me a lift and offered tea. They knew some French.
Hitchhiking between Erzincan and Erzurum
The long-distance buses stop at large, cheap restaurants every two or three hours
The buses have both a driver and a conductor. The conductor offers coffee or an icecream for free after each stop.
An orchestra ready for receiving a victorious football team in Erzincan
A proud truck driver in Erzurum. On the roof is written "Allah Korusun", "Allah bless you".
Üç Kümbetler, three mausoleums in Erzurum
Ulu Cami, The Great Mosque in Erzurum
Train voyage through the mountains between Erzurum and Kars. The trail has narrow tunnels, tight bends and impressing sights. The central part between Horasan and Sarıkamış does not follow the main road.
The Kaukasus plains with Kars and Ani were occupied by Russia 1878-1918. In the winter 2014-2015 in the beginning of World War I, the Ottoman empire attacked Russian forces, and an entire Turkish army lead by Enver Pasha was nearly destroyed at Sarıkamış. There is a large Turkish garrison in Sarıkamış, as the mountain area is easier to defend than the Kaukasus plains.
Everywhere in Turkey you see men at the teahouses. Women are invisible, especially in the countryside.
I was greeted with friendly curiosity at every teahouse. In a group of five or six Turkish men, one usually speaks some English or German and translates to the others. Every time I told that I was going to visit the ruin town Ani close to the Armenian border, the English-speaking man took time to think and then said "Armenians have also done many bad things". I heard that phrase many times on my trip through Turkey, so I guess it's a phrase from a Turkish school book.
A newly married couple in Kars
Russian buildings in Kars, i.e. built between 1878 and 1918
The historian Eugene Rogan writes about the Armenian genocide 1915 and the Ottoman military tribunals 1919:
"In order to avoid a draconian peace settlement, the new Ottoman government decided to establish military tribunals to try those accused of responsibility for the annihilation of the Armenian community." (p. 387)
"Between January and March 1919, the Ottoman authorities ordered the arrest of three hundred Turkish officials. Among those detained were provincial governors and Unionist members of parliament as well as lower-ranking local officials. ... The trials were open to the public, with the state's evidence and court decisions published in the official gazette, the Takvîm-i Vekâyi". (p. 388)
"After months of deliberations, the courts passed death sentences on eighteen defendants for their roles in the Armenian massacres. ... With fifteen of the condemned tried in absentia, only three lower-ranking officials were ultimately sent to the gallows." (p. 388)
"... the record of these trials provides the most extensive evidence ever compiled by the Turkish authorities on the organization and the conduct of the Armenian massacres. These records, published in Ottoman Turkish, have been in the public domain since 1919 and make a mockery of any attempt to deny the Young Turk government's role in ordering and organizing the annihilation of the Ottoman Armenian community." (p. 389)
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