Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern, Eastern European and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including those of Southeast Europe (Balkans), Central Europe, and Western Europe. The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm with influences from Levantine cuisines, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia, creating a vast array of specialities.
The relations between the Greek and the Turkish states have been marked by alternating periods of mutual hostility and reconciliation ever since Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832. Since then the two countries have faced each other in four major wars—the Greco-Turkish War (1897), the First Balkan War of 1912 to 1913, the First World War and finally the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22), which was followed by the Greco-Turkish population exchange and a period of friendly relations in the 1930s and 1940s. Both countries entered NATO in 1952. Relations deteriorated again in the 1950s due to the Cyprus issue, the 1955 Istanbul pogrom and the expulsion of the Istanbul Greeks in the 1960s, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and subsequent military confrontations over the Aegean dispute. A period of relative normalization began after 1999 with the so-called "earthquake diplomacy", which notably led to a change in the previously firmly negative stance of the Greek government on the issue of the accession of Turkey to the European Union.
The Aegean Islands are the group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east; the island of Crete delimits the sea to the south, those of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos to the southeast. The ancient Greek name of the Aegean Sea, Archipelago was later applied to the islands it contains and is now used more generally, to refer to any island group.
İzmir Province is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 10 districts out of 30 in total. To the west, it is surrounded by the Aegean Sea, and it encloses the Gulf of Izmir. Its area is 11,973 square kilometres, with a population of 4,279,677 in 2017. The population was 3,370,866 in 2000. Neighboring provinces are Balıkesir to the north, Manisa to the east, and Aydın to the south. The traffic code of the province is 35.
Aydın Province is a province of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. The provincial capital is the city of Aydın which has a population of approx. 150,000 (2000). Other towns in the province include the summer seaside resorts of Didim and Kuşadası.
The Aegean dispute is a set of interrelated controversial issues for decades between Greece and Turkey over sovereignty and related rights in the area of the Aegean Sea. This set of conflicts has had a large effect on Greek-Turkish relations since the 1970s. It has twice led to crises coming close to the outbreak of military hostilities, in 1987 and in early 1996. The issues in the Aegean fall into several categories:
Söke is a town and a large district of Aydın Province in the Aegean region of western Turkey, 54 km south-west of the city of Aydın, near the Aegean coast. It had 68,020 population in 2010. It neighbours are Germencik from north-east, Koçarlı from east, Milas from south-east, Didim from south-west, Aegean Sea from west and Kuşadası from northwest.
The Aegean Region is one of the 7 geographical regions of Turkey.
The Marmara Region is a geographical region of Turkey.
The North Aegean islands are a number of disconnected islands in the north Aegean Sea, also known as the Northeast Aegean islands, belonging to Greece and Turkey. The islands do not form a physical chain or group, but are frequently grouped together for tourist or administrative purposes. To the south are the Dodecanese islands; and to the west are the Cyclades and Sporades islands.
Imia or Kardak is a pair of small uninhabited islets in the Aegean Sea, situated between the Greek island chain of the Dodecanese and the southwestern mainland coast of Turkey.
Turkey straddles two peninsulas: Anatolia in Asia and Thrace in Europe. The surrounding seas are the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, Aegean Sea and Mediterranean Sea. But the number of gulfs in the north and the south (Mediterranean) is not high, because the mountain ranges lie more or less parallel to the coastline both in the north and in the south. The majority of bays are on the west, where the mountain ranges are perpendicular to the coastline.
Winifred Lamb was a British archaeologist, art historian, and museum curator who specialised in Greek, Roman, and Anatolian cultures and artefacts.The bulk of her career was spent as the Honorary Keeper of Greek Antiquities at the University of Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum from 1920 - 1958. She was the first woman archaeologist involved in the British Anatolian excavations, and the Fitzwilliam Museum states that she was a "generous benefactor and raising the profile of the collections through groundbreaking research, acquisitions and publications." She was also the author of numerous books on Greek and Roman antiquities, including the 1929 publication Greek and Roman Bronzes, which was standard reading for studies on the subject, as well as writing numerous reviews for the Journal of Hellenic Studies.
Blessed Thistle with Lamb is a dish common to the Aegean coast and Aegean sea islands among Turkish and Greek people. Ingredients include Blessed thistle, lamb chunks, onion, juice of half a lemon, flour, butter, and salt.
Fennel with lamb is a dish from the Aegean coast and Aegean Sea islands among both Turkish and Greek people.
Corn poppy with lamb this dish commonly used by Aegean coast and Aegean sea islands Turkish and Greek people.
Eggplant Papucaki is a typical Aegean dish found on both Turkish and Greek sides of the Aegean Sea. "Papuc" or "papuç" is a Persian word "paposh" (پاپٯش) that is used in Turkish and means shoe or slipper. The basic dish consists of eggplants which have been boiled or roasted and the tops cut off lengthwise,. The flesh is scooped out and mixed with other ingredients, sometimes ground beef, sometimes eggs, green peppers or bell peppers, green onions, tomatoes, lemon, and olive oil. It is topped with mozzarella or feta cheese and grilled.
