Story: Living in Altinkaya, Turkey

Life is unfair for Hanife Çelik. Her face gives a hint on that.
According to the facial wrinkles she’s got, she looks too far too old the way a woman in her twenties should do. It is noticible that she works hard just taking a look at the plenty callous you can find on her hand palms. She gets up for a long labour day when the dawn first rays of light gently touch her face, as they get through her bedroom shadeless window. Her humble house is quite small. It has just one wall to divide the bedroom from the other stage, used mainly for both eating and cooking. There are two heaters in there, one used as stove as well, feeded by the big trunks she sets on piles by the front door. Like the rest of the houses on the village, no bathroom is found there. In fact, Altinkaya -the place where Hanife lives- has no running water except for the public fountain. Water has been the main problem of the region for centuries. As a matter of fact, there are some remains of ancient aqueducts spread over the area so it seems that unlike nowadays, in roman times suppling water was a priority for the governors.

Altinkaya is a hamlet placed on the souther slope of mount Taurus, in Turkey, 100 km away from the golden sand beaches of Antalya. It is only reachable over 12 km of dirt road, crossing the impressive Roman Oluk Bridge. Its 950 meters above the sea level, makes the little village a pintoresque place to see, surrounded by pure nature.

But Altinkaya is much more than that. It has a hidden splendorous and glorious past. Due to this fact, it is notably surprising seeing local people endeavouring to continue their lives among the remains of Selge, an important city of ancient Pisidia. Selge was ruled under Lydia, Persia, Alexander the Great and Roman governments respectively. Its 20000 inhabitants lived in great prosperity, being an important center of trade for a long time. A proof of that is its huge amphitheatre, capable to hold more than 10000 people in times of glory, still in good condition despite a severe storm lighting tear down the front wall in mid 20th century, but three of the five original doors giving access back stage still remain. Parts of the city walls, the agora, the gymnasium and the Zeus’ temple are still visible but you will need to use your imagination to figure out how the city looked like in the prosper days…

I met Hanife Çelik prior I stepped on the hamlet ground. I asked her for the main parking place and she told me I could park wherever I wanted to. Of course, they have neither paved streets nor traffic signs. In fact, as far as I could see, they don’t have motored vehicles in town and the closest gas station is quite far away. Hanife speaks just a bit English and German but communication between us was so much easier as I could think at first. She offered herself as local guide and I found it to be such a good idea. She stayed with me all the time showing every single corner I was interested in. She gave me full detailed explanations about the ancient town I could never find in any book. From time to time, I saw her bending down picking some different herbs. Later on, she kindly asked me if I wanted to go to her place in order to have a nice tea she would be happy to brew with those greenies she was gathering all the way. I felt honoured with her invitation, and of course I accepted in a quick response. Once we were on our way to her house, she showed me the most visited place in the village, the public fountain. There were three women carring water using large vases on a wheelbarrow at that moment. Fortunatelly for Hanife it only took five minutes by foot to get to her humble house. She made for me one of the nicest teas I’ve ever drunk while she told me about her only son and how she hardly make ends meet since her husband abandoned her and how she would like to travel because increadibly she was never out of Altinkaya. Finally, she showed me her most precious material possesion, a 24 inches Beko TV set, complemented with an outside satellite antenna. She called it her little window to the world. It is kinda strange for me that she owns a full satellite TV set while she lacks running water system.

After more than an hour of a nice conversation, Hanife regreted I had to leave that moment and she kindly wish me well as she invite me to visit her in again, showing me another proof of her hospitality. I promised her to send by post all the portraiture I made for her. I hope she liked them as much as I enjoyed being with her companion.