Your excellent discussion was most informative and enlightening. My limited understanding of Turkey’s geopolitical situation and strategic positioning has been greatly enhanced and it now has a seam running through it: before and after this article. I am wondering though why you chose not to use the spelling, Türkiye?
Thank you, Ward — the seam running through your understanding is exactly the kind of response I was hoping the piece would land. On Türkiye: it's a deliberate choice, not an oversight. Ankara formally requested the international community adopt Türkiye in 2022, and the UN duly switched. The spelling is now correct in diplomatic and official usage, and I use it in formal contexts.
The reason I default to Turkey in the writing is editorial, not political. Kardamow's audience is mixed — Anglophone, finance-and-policy, often reading on phones — and Türkiye with the diacritic creates a small reading friction every time it appears. In a piece with already-heavy proper-noun load (Yıldırımhan, Davutoğlu, Kısakürek, Erbakan, Akkuyu, Kirkuk-Ceyhan), I make the trade for the country name and keep the diacritics on the people and places where they're load-bearing. It's the same trade most English-language outlets are still making — FT, Economist, Reuters — though the BBC and a few others have switched.
I may revisit it.
Something to think about for the next Türkiye piece.
Superb article, explains a lot. We visited Istanbul for 9 days last year and I was exceptionally impressed with the culture and the system. They process arguably more tourists from more different corners of the world than any other country. Turkish Airways flies to more different other countries than any other airlines. There are ATM`s on the corner that can deliver Euros, Lira, or US dollars, as you like. The Muslim centers clearly stress the central belief that "God is Love". Your article ties it all together. The Hagia Sofia is an architectural masterpiece, for 1500 years the largest interior space built by man anywhere, and its still in use today, and the line of tourists going through it is incredible, even for someone who grew up around Washington DC. There is a green highway sign, not too big, at the end of the suspension bridge that states simply, "Welcome to Asia"
Thank you, John — and welcome to Kardamow. The Istanbul observations land. Turkish Airlines is doing something genuinely structural with the route map — it now flies to more countries than any other carrier on the planet, and that's not a marketing achievement, it's the same merkez-ülke logic the piece describes, executed at the level of civil aviation. Istanbul Airport sits where it sits because Turkey sits where it sits, and the route network is the commercial expression of the strategic position.
The "Welcome to Asia" sign on the Bosphorus bridge is the cleanest possible expression of the seam. Most countries have to argue for their geopolitical significance. Turkey just posts a sign.
Glad the piece tied your trip together — that's the best thing a reader can say.
Your excellent discussion was most informative and enlightening. My limited understanding of Turkey’s geopolitical situation and strategic positioning has been greatly enhanced and it now has a seam running through it: before and after this article. I am wondering though why you chose not to use the spelling, Türkiye?
Thank you, Ward — the seam running through your understanding is exactly the kind of response I was hoping the piece would land. On Türkiye: it's a deliberate choice, not an oversight. Ankara formally requested the international community adopt Türkiye in 2022, and the UN duly switched. The spelling is now correct in diplomatic and official usage, and I use it in formal contexts.
The reason I default to Turkey in the writing is editorial, not political. Kardamow's audience is mixed — Anglophone, finance-and-policy, often reading on phones — and Türkiye with the diacritic creates a small reading friction every time it appears. In a piece with already-heavy proper-noun load (Yıldırımhan, Davutoğlu, Kısakürek, Erbakan, Akkuyu, Kirkuk-Ceyhan), I make the trade for the country name and keep the diacritics on the people and places where they're load-bearing. It's the same trade most English-language outlets are still making — FT, Economist, Reuters — though the BBC and a few others have switched.
I may revisit it.
Something to think about for the next Türkiye piece.
Superb article, explains a lot. We visited Istanbul for 9 days last year and I was exceptionally impressed with the culture and the system. They process arguably more tourists from more different corners of the world than any other country. Turkish Airways flies to more different other countries than any other airlines. There are ATM`s on the corner that can deliver Euros, Lira, or US dollars, as you like. The Muslim centers clearly stress the central belief that "God is Love". Your article ties it all together. The Hagia Sofia is an architectural masterpiece, for 1500 years the largest interior space built by man anywhere, and its still in use today, and the line of tourists going through it is incredible, even for someone who grew up around Washington DC. There is a green highway sign, not too big, at the end of the suspension bridge that states simply, "Welcome to Asia"
https://www.flickr.com/photos/167129605@N05/albums/72177720328203700/
Thank you, John — and welcome to Kardamow. The Istanbul observations land. Turkish Airlines is doing something genuinely structural with the route map — it now flies to more countries than any other carrier on the planet, and that's not a marketing achievement, it's the same merkez-ülke logic the piece describes, executed at the level of civil aviation. Istanbul Airport sits where it sits because Turkey sits where it sits, and the route network is the commercial expression of the strategic position.
The "Welcome to Asia" sign on the Bosphorus bridge is the cleanest possible expression of the seam. Most countries have to argue for their geopolitical significance. Turkey just posts a sign.
Glad the piece tied your trip together — that's the best thing a reader can say.