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Expats enjoys in TurkeyA l s o c a l l e d D I D Y M I , o r

BRANCHIDAE, ancient sanctuary and

seat of an oracle of Apollo, located south

of Miletus in modern Turkey. Before be‐ing plundered and burned by the Per‐sians (c. 494 BC), the sanctuary was in

the charge of the Branchids, a priestly

caste named aer Branchus, a favorite

youth of Apollo. Aer Alexander the

Great conquered Miletus (334), the ora‐

cle was re sancti#ed; the city adminis‐tered the cult, annually electing a

prophet. About 300 BC the Milesians be‐gan to build a new temple, intended to

be the largest in the Greek world. e

annual festival held there, the Didymeia,

became Panhellenic in the beginning of

the 2nd century BC. Excavations made

between 1905 and 1930 revealed all of

the uncompleted new temple and some

carved pieces of the earlier temple and

statues.

Made a township in 1991, Didyma is a

peninsula surrounded by the provincial

limits of Mugla and the Akbük cove in

the east, the Aegean Sea in the south and

west and the lake Bafa and the river Me‐ander in the north. It is located 106 km

from Aydin, 53 km from Söke, 73 km

from Kusadasi, and 110 km from Bo‐drum. e number of its inhabitants is

10.400 according to the census of 1990,

and its area 300 km2.

Didyma possesses a bed capacity of

15.000 in 200 facilities either certi#ed by

the Ministry or by the Municipality.

ere are a lot of invaluable historical

sites, ruins, ancient cities and recreation‐al facilities by the seaside in and around

Didyma which make the region a world-

known tourism center. is shows that

Didyma is a town of history, legends and

nature with the Dilek peninsula on one

side and the Meander delta and the

Dilek peninsula on one side and the Me‐ander delta and the take Bafa on the take

Bafa on the other. Having a coastal line

of 60 km Diduma further has hundreds

of coves.

Didyma is an ideal holiday resort for

those who like aquatics. # shing,

trekking, youth and student tourism,

hunting, healthcare, historical works, sea

sun and nature. e colors created by the

setting by the setting sun over the sea at

Altinkum are not those that can be seen

elsewhere. You can enjoy with much sat‐isfaction that moment with a goblet of

drink at any restaurant by the seaside.

2 Didim Today

Didim

Apollon Temple in Didyma

Altinkum, Didyma is an excellent resort

for those who would seek for the sea,

sun and sand. You can have a sun bath

on on golden sandy beaches, participate

in aquatics in the coves where any kinds

of such sports can be performed. When

the sun start to set. Altinkum gains a

nerdish color. Later than that hour, you

can have dinner at hundreds of restau‐rants that serve the Turkish and various

other cuisines from all over the world.

And Altinkum, which looks small and

quiet awakens in the evening. As the

time goes by, you can see that people

start dancing and chatting at the bars. If

you are unable to slow down in the later

hours of the night, you can dance in one

of the discos which will entertain you

until the morning. at is not all. You

can also ride a bicycle to see the bars. If

you are unable to slow down in the later

hours of the night. You can dance in one

of the discos which will entertain you

until the morning. at is not al you can

also ride a bicycle to see the coves and

historical sites around the place. Besides

the sea and sun on one side and the end‐less golden beaches on the other. histori‐cal and artistic wonders in everywhere.

e Apollo temple of Didyma (the Didy‐maion), located within the boundaries of

the village of Yeni Hisar in the Söke dis‐trict of the province of Aydın, was

known as a sanctuary and seat of an ora‐cle attached to Miletus. Recent excava‐tions revealed remains which showed

that Didyma was not only a seat of an

oracle but also the site of dense settle‐ment.

e research concerning the origins of

the names of Didyma and Didymaion

has been a subject of discussion going on

for years. Along with several other

myths, it was thought that the name

Didymaion which meant "twin temples"

or "temple of the twins", was related to

Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo. How‐ever, as no de#nite evidence could be

found, this theory also remained as a

myth. With the intensi#cation of work in

recent years on the "Sacred Road" con‐necting Miletus and Didyma, and the

#nding of the place of the Artemis cult

during the excavations however, it was

proved that this thesis was riğht. e two

temples built for the twin brother and

sister, the Artemision and the Didy‐maion, constitute the origin of the name

Didyma.

Apollo and Artemis were closely related

to the mother goddess Cybele who had,

from prehistoric times, a very important

place in Anatolia. e mother goddess

Cybele had various names (such as

Kubaba, Isis, Hepat, Lat) and epithets ac‐cording to localities and cultures. e

most widespread of these names was

Dindymene which was derived from

mount Dindymus and which is remark‐able for its resemblance to the name

Didyma.

e name of Apollo is considered not to

be Greek. Apollo, who, because of the re‐semblance in names was identi#ed with

the god Apulunas mentioned in Hittite

written sources, represented shape given

by rational perception, temperate power,

#ne arts and light. Besides these, he was

renowned for his ability to prophesy, and

he communicated to people through

mediums and oracles his knowledge of

the future.

e dependence of communities on reli‐gion increased as it was seen that gods

possessed forces to direct according to

their will, all phenonema and events re‐lating to nature and society. As a natural

consequence of the increase in religion,

belief in the power to prophesy of the

gods who could foresee events and phe‐nomena was intensi#ed.

In the Archaic period the oracle of Apol‐lo had great fame. e great number of

temples erected in Anatolia as seats of

oracles is evidence that belief in gods

had reached enormous proportions. e

most important of the temples dedicated

to Apollo were the Temple of Apollo at

Delphi in Greece, and the Didymaion in

Anatolia. ese to seats were in constant

rivalry with each other. A #ne example

of this rivalry can be clearly seen in the

following verses by the oracle of Delphi.

In the mid 7th century BC, in the oracles

of Apollo, the god could be consulted

once a year for official matters, and the

answers received to questions directed

would be in the form of "yes or "no".

When in later years, consulting the god

also for private matters became a tradi‐tion, these consultations became gradu‐ally more frequent. e oracles of Apollo

grew very rich as a result of this, and

their fame and in'uence spread over

large areas. ey became as powerful as

the state they were in and were effective

in shaping the destinies of persons and

communities, and particularly in politics

where they played a very important role,

they very oen caused wrong decisions

to be taken.

Pausanias states that the Apollo temple

at Didyma had been built before the

Greek colonization (10th century BC). It

is believed in the light of this that the ex‐istence of Didyma, like that of Miletus

and Priene goes back to the 2nd millen‐nium BC. However according to the re‐sults of excavations and research work

undertaken up to the present day, the

earliest temple remains date back to the

end of the 8th century BC.

One learns from Herodotus that valuable

votive offerings were presented to the

3Didim Today

temple by King Necho of Egypt at the

end of the 7th century BC, and King

Croesus of Lydia in the 6th century BC.

It is believed that the construction of the

Archaic temple was begun in the mid

6th century BC and was completed at

the end of the same century. In the 6th

century BC, the Didymaion was admin‐istered by a priestly caste named

Branchids. During this period which

lasted about 100 years, the temple 'our‐ished and went through its most brilliant

era.

It was completely burned and plundered

by the Persians during the battle of Lade,

the priests of the temple were driven to

Susa, and the cult statue of Apollo was

taken to Ecbatana. e statue of Apollo

which was dated back to 500 BC, was

made by the sculptor Kanachus of Sicy‐on and re'ects Anatolian - Hittite char‐acteristics.

e construction of the Hellenistic tem‐ple was begun aer the victory of

Alexander the Great over the Persians.

However, it was understood from the re‐mains that this Hellenistic temple was

not completed.

e temple of which the construction

was continued under Emperor Caligula

(37 - 41 AD) who wanted to be though

of as the god of the temple, and later un‐der Hadrian (117 - 138 AD), was never

completed. With the alterations made in

the 3rd century AD to protect it from

plunder, the temple took on the appear‐ance of a fortress, and 'ourished under

the reigns of Aurelian (270 - 275) and

Diocletian (284 - 305).

ere are #ndings which indicate that

work was done on the temple during the

reign of Emperor Julian (361 - 363).

In the beginning of the 5th century AD,

Emperor eodosius had a church built

in the sacred courtyard (Adyton -

Sekos). is church, which had the ap‐pearance of a three - winged basilica,

was destroyed in an earthquake and later

rebuilt with one wing (9th century AD).

In the 10th century AD, the two -

columned hall (Chresmographeion - hall

of the oracle) and the pronaos, which

were used as storage areas, were greatly

damaged in a #re, and most of the mar‐ble turned into lime.

Aer the Seljuks and the Mongols con‐quered the region the temple was com‐pletely abandoned.

An Italian traveler who visited Didyma

in 1446 records that the whole temple

was standing, however at the end of the

15th century the temple was completely

destroyed by an earthquake and turned

into a heap of marble. In later years the

temple was used as a quarry, and many

of its architectural elements were used as

building material in the construction of

dwellings and other buildings by the lo‐cal people.

EXCAVATIONS

e #rst excavations in Didyma were

made in 1858 by the English under the

direction of Newton. e area excavated

was the Sacred Road.

In the temple, excavations were #rst be‐gun in 1872 by the French under O

Rayet and A omas. e aim was to

#nd the cult statue of Apollo, but at the

end of the work which lasted two years,

the cult statue had not been found. How‐ever, it had been possible to determine

the dimensions of the temple and to re‐construct its plan.

In the excavations of 1895 - 96, again

undertaken by the French, the work, su‐pervised by B Haussoullier and E Pon‐tremoli, was concentrated on the north‐ern part of the temple. ese excavations

were stopped shortly aer due to eco‐nomic reasos. Excavations begun in

1905 for the museums in Berlin under

the supervision of . Weigand, were

continued on a systematic basis until the

year 1937. During this time a great por‐tion of the temple was revealed. Aer

this date, excavations were interrupted

and work on publication of the results

was begun.

In order #nd solutions to certain prob‐lems concerning the temple and its sur‐roundings, excavations were begun again

in 1962, this time for the German Insti‐tute of Archaeology, under the supervi‐sion of R Naumann. When R Naumann

le, the excavations in Didyma were

continued under the supervision of

Klaus Tuchelt. Work is at present still go‐ing on in the area with special attention

to research on the Sacred Road.

THE SACRED ROAD

e Delphinion is accepted as the start‐ing point of the Sacred Road connecting

Miletus and Didyma. e road ran from

the Sacret Gate of Miletus southwards in

the direction of the coast to Panarmos

Harbour (above Akköy), and - bending

south - east from the port, reached the

Didymaion. Within the boundaries of

Yenihisar, the Sacred Road runs close

along the side of the asphalt road. A por‐tion of the Sacred Road has been re‐vealed by excavations and exploratory

trenches dug in recent years. However,

due to certain bureaucratic obstacles, it

has not yet been possible to establish its

connection to the temple.

On either side of the road there were

statues of Branchids (priests and

priestesses attached to the temple),

crouching lions and sphinxes, all of

which gave the road an impressive ap‐pearance. Monumental tombs and sar‐cophagi belonging to important persons

were also dispersed along the road. Stat‐ues of Branchids revealed in the excava‐

tions carried out by Newton in 1858 on

the Sacred Road have been taken to the

British Museum. Some fragments be‐longing to the statues are in the store‐room of the house of excavations in

Didyma. Four of the Branchid statues in

which Hittite in'uence is apparent and

which have been dated back to the 6th

century BC, are on display in the muse‐um in Miletus. In the years 100 and 101

AD Emperor Trajan had the Sacred

Road restored. e parts of the road that

had fallen down were raised to a higher

level and the other parts were repaired.

Inscriptions indicate that the restoration

work was completed in a very short time.

It was understood from a milestone re‐vealed during excavations that the road

was 16.5 kilometers long. According to

the portions uncovered, the width of the

road which was made of stone blocks,

changed between 5 and 7 meters. On

both sides of it were rows of shops, vo‐tive fountains, monumental tombs,

baths, and the area for the cult of

Artemis. Findings indicate a dense set‐tlement. e group of people who set out

from Miletus to join the annual celebra‐tions and festivities which were held in

the Didymaion every spring, reached the

temple aer a long walk, there were

therefore, resting places on the Sacred

Road. It is understood that the Terrace

with the Sphinx, uncovered during exca‐vations carried out in 1985 about 4 kilo‐

4 Didim Today

5Didim Today

meters to the south of Akköy, was a halt‐ing place built for rest purposes.

THE ARCHAIC DIDYMAION (e

Apollo Temple at Didyma)

Remains of foundations of the Late Geo‐metric period were found during excava‐tions carried out in 1962 by German ar‐chaeologists within the secos of the Hel‐lenistic temple to look for the #rst Apol‐lo temple of Didyma which, according to

Pausanias, had existed before the 10th

century BC. e temple which, accord‐ing to the foundations of secos walls un‐covered in the north and south parts,

was 10.20 meters wide and 24 meters

long and slightly narrowed towards the

east, was built at the end of the 8th cen‐tury BC. e small and simple temple

contained a secos (sacred courtyard), an

altar, a sacred source, a cult statue and

the symbols of Apollo. e Late Geomet‐ric temple did not have a naiscos, the

naiscos is understood to have been built

at the end of the 7th century BC to pro‐tect the cult statue. Exploratory digging

carried out to the south - west of the

temple revealed the remains of a

columned building 15.50 meters long

and 3.60 meters wide. e remnants and

ceramic #ndings have been dated back to

the end of the 7th century BC.

Not many remains are le to the present

day from the Archaic Didymaion, as it

was burned, destroyed and plundered in

494 BC (the battle of Lade). Besides,

#ndings relating to the Archaic temple

are further limited by the fact that the

Hellenistic temple was built over the

foundations of the Archaic one.

However, the construction of the plan

was possible and various examples of re‐construction were made through ancient

authors, as well as architectural and

sculptural fragments found during bor‐ings and excavations.

e Didymaion became really important

in the #rst of the 6th century BC when

all Ionian cities, and especially Miletus,

reached their most 'ourishing era. e

temple was rebuilt in 560 - 550 BC with

larger proportions. e in'uence of the

temples of Hera at Samos and Artemis at

Ephesus are apparent in the Archaic

Didymaion.

e temple, an 87.65 meter long and

40.89 meter wide building of a dipteral

plan (having a double row of columns all

around), rested on a two - stepped

crepes. e longer sides had 21 columns

each, the east had 8, and the west 9,

whereas in the pronaos there were 8

columns in two rows. Together with the

columns within the peristasis (the sur‐rounding hall), the total number of

columns added up to 112.

e parts of the temple which were not

visible from the outside were made of lo‐

cal tufa, while those that were visible

were made of marble. e marble was

provided from marble quarries on the is‐land of Toşoz, and in the hills above the

village of Pınarcık near Bafa lake. One

can still see fragments of roughly pre‐pared column shas in the quarries at

Pınarcık. e party worked marble,

brought from the quarry to Latmos Har‐bour, was then taken by sea to Panarmos

Harbor, and from there it was carried to

the temple

e bases and capitals of the 15.45 meter

high columns bear the characteristics of

the Artemis Temple at Ephesus; the

bases consists of tori and double trochili,

the Ionic capitals have large volutes, the

column shas have 36 'utes. On the

eastern facade, the lower parts of the

columns in the front row were decorated

with reliefs; a head of a woman (Kore)

from these relief is on display in the

Charlottenburg Museum in Berlin. e

characteristics of all these elements indi‐cate that they were at the latest made in

the year 550 BC, which coincides with

the date of the initial construction of the

Archaic Didymaion.

e double row of columns in the

pronaos indicate that it had a roof. e

architrave is quite narrow. In the corners

are high reliefs of winged gorgons and

behind these are #gures of crouching li‐ons. It is believed that certain wild ani‐mals' #gures were also there besides the

lions. is type of decorations is quite

unusual in temple entablature. ese

pieces of work which can be dated back

to the end of the 6th century BC, were

probably made during restoration works

which took place in the temple at the

time. On the architrave rest, in due

order, a band of egg - and - dart

molding, dentils, another band of egg -

and - dart moulding, a cornice and a

roof.

6 Didim Today

e inner sides of the walls of the secos

(sacred courtyard) were forti#ed by pi‐lasters in the form of half - columns,

which brought colour to the long, high

walls. e height of the walls of the 50.25

meter long and 17.45 meter wide secos

reached 17.5 meters. Walls of this height

give the imprecision that the secos was

was roofed, but the greatness of the dis‐tances between the pilasters on the walls

destroys this theory.

Within the secos stood the naiscos (little

temple) where the cult statue of Apollo

was kept. However, there are not many

#ndings belonging to this buildings.

During borings in the Hellenistic

naiscos, foundation remains belonging

to a smaller building were found. It is be‐lieved that these foundations belong to

the Archaic naiscos. e bronze cult stat‐ue is known as the "Apollo Philesius"

and represents Apollo catching a deer.

In front of the temple (east) and on the

same axis stands a circular altar. is al‐tar, of which the other diameter mea‐sures 8 meters and the inner one 5.5 me‐ters, had two doors. e holes for the

hinges can stil l be seen on the

thresholds. e altar of which the inside

is very well preserved, had been used in

the Archaic, and also in the Hellenistic

and Roman temples as the sacred place

where the animals presented as votive

offerings were burned. e great amount

of ashes found in the building during ex‐cavations is evidence of this. In ancient

times, animals offered to the gods of the

sky were burned in this type of altar, and

sancti#cation was achieved by washing

in the blood of the animals offered to the

gods under the ground. To the north of

the altar is the sacred source. e ma‐sonry of the lower parts of this circular

well shows that it was constructed in the

Archaic period.

3.5 meter high protective walls encircle

the front part of the temple. ese walls

must have been built to diminish the dif‐ference of levels in the large area in front

of the temple. In the uncovered portion

of these protective walls were #ve outlets

with staircases, each 2.5 meters wide.

e central stairs are situated just oppo‐site the altar, on the same axis. ese

stairs led to the terrace on which stood

the votive and gods' statues. e style of

the egg - and - dart molding used to dec‐orate the upper part of the terrace wall as

well as the workmanship of the wall and

stairs, bear the characteristics of the Ar‐chaic period.

On this terrace one also comes across

the remains of two long structures built

of limestone. e 34.5 meter long and 7

meter wide buildings must have been

shops where visitors took shelter or

shopped. ese buildings also show the

characteristics of the Archaic period.

Next to the stairs along the terrace wall

situate in the direction of the south - east

end of the temple are rows of benches. It

is understood that these benches extend‐ing parallel to the steps of the temple

were built in the Hellenistic period, and

were the rows of benches for the stadium

situated to the south of the temple, Every

four years festivities called the "Megala

Didymeia" and musical shows, were held

here, and torch processions and compe‐titions were arranged. e bases having a

hole in the center, which marked the

starting points of the races, can be seen

at the eastern end of the stadium. ese

bases lie on the same axis as the altar.

THE HELLENISTIC DIDYMAION

What remains of the temple in the

present day, through hundreds of years

of earth - quakes, #re, destruction and

plunder are mostly remnants of the Hel‐lenistic period. e Roman characteris‐tics witnessed in certain parts of the

temple, are elements which have reached

the present day from the temple, which

continued to be built during the Roman

period also.

It is known that the construction of the

Hellenistic temple was begun in 313 BC,

and that it was erected over the Archaic

temple which was burned and destroyed

in 494 BC. e donations of Alexander

the Great and King Seleucus I of Syria

were of great help in the rebuilding of

the Didymaion. Furthermore, Seleucus I

had the cult statue of Apollo brought

back from Ecbatana (300 BC) and re‐placed in the temple.

e plan of the temple was made by

Paionius of Ephesus and Daphnis of

Miletus. ese two renowned architects

had also worked on the Artemision at

Ephesus (one of the seven wonders of

the world) and the Heraion at Samos,

which were considered to be the largest

and the most magni#cent temples of the

Hellenistic period. e Didymaion

emerges as the third largest edi#ce of the

Hellenistic period, following the former.

e plan, as a requisition of the cult, had

to provide an open air space to hold the

Sacred Fountain, the Altar, the Laurel

Grove, considered to be the sacred tree

of Apollo, and it had also to shelter the

cult statue. All these elements had to be

arranged in a way not to disturb the cov‐ered spaces. e architects constructed

on ostentatious example of architecture,

by the perfect use of the local character‐istics of the cult of the oracle and of the

spaces of different levels. is temple dif‐fered from a normal temple plan in that

it was also the seat of an oracle. Teh edi‐#ce consisted of a long pronaos, a rect‐angular hall with two columns in the

c e n t r e ( t h e o r a c l e h a l l -

Cresmographeion), a sacred courtyard

surrounded by high walls (Secos-

Adyton), and in this courtyard a small

temple sheltering the cult statue of Apol‐lo (the naiscos), all set on the same axis

but at different 'oor levels.

e temples, situated over the Archaic

one and of Larger proportions, had ne‐cessitated an ucommonly high lower

structure. e temple rested on a 3.5 me‐ter high and 7 - stepped platform

(crepis), and had in the center of the

front facade a 14 - stepped stairway of

which both sides were limited. e width

of these stairs was equal to that of the

temple. is characteristic is also visible

in the Classical Artemision. e temple,

109.34 meters long and 51.13 meters

wide, was built on a dipteral (having a

double row of columns all around) plan.

It had 21 columns each on its longer

sides, and 10 each on the shorter ones.

Together with the columns within the

peristasis and the ones in the pronaos

and cresmographeion, the total number

of columns added up to 122. e cost of

the columns of which only three stand

today, was very high. Excavations have

revealed a great number of inscriptions

showing the calculation of construction

costs prepared during the building of the

temple. It is understood from these doc‐uments that the cost of one column was

40,000 drachmae and that the daily

wages of a labourer was only 2

drachmea. is means that one laborer

would have to work for 20,000 workdays

to put a column in its place, or to adapt it

to the present day, by assuming that the

minimum daily wage of a stone work‐man be 10,000 TL, the construction cost

of a column could be calculated to

amount to 200 million TL. It is also

known, from these inscriptions that,

from 250 BC onwards, 8 architects and

20 construction companies worked for

the temple.

Such a large and costly building could

certainly not have been #nished in a

short time. It is understood that the con‐struction went on in the 3rd and 2nd

centuries BC, and that some of it was

completed during the Roman period. Al‐though a great portion of the columns

were prepared and set in their places, it

can be seen that those in the outer row of

the peristasis and especially those in the

rear facade were never completed.

e height of the columns was #rst de‐termined in 1873 by A. omas as being

19.71 meters. e accuracy of the mea‐surement was evidenced by recent re‐search work also. e lower diameters of

the columns vary between 1.96 and 2

meters. is conforms to the rule that, in

the Ionic order lower diameters of

columns are equal to 1/10th of their

height.

A von Gerkan has calculated the total

height of the temple, including the 19.71

meter high columns, the stepped lower

structure and the entablature, as 29.40

meters. is measurement gives an idea

of the magni#cence of the temple before

it was destroyed.

e double row of columns round the

temple gave the building a very impres‐sive appearance as well as depth. Of the

108 columns in the peristasis (the pe‐ripheral hall) about 80 are standing in

their original places. e letters seen in

the upper and lower parts of the frag‐ments of column shas were written by

the workmen to avoid any mistakes dur‐ing the placing of the columns in their

places. is is also an indication that the

columns had entasis (a swelling of col‐umn shas).

Of the three Hellenistic columns still

standing, the workmanship of two are

complete and they carry the entablature.

e third column which carries a capital

has no 'uting in its sha. According to

the characteristics of the capitals, the

columns were built in the #rst half of the

2nd century BC.

e bases of the columns in the peristal‐sis display different characteristics;

whereas some consist of plinthus, torus

and double trochilus, the column bases

in the central part of the other row in the

front facade show Early Roman charac‐teristics. One of these bases is divided in

to 12 rectangular panels decorated with

motifs of sea creatures, palmettoes and

other plants. On another base there are

double meander and palmento motifs.

ese bases were built between the years

37 and 41 BC by Emperor Caligula who

wanted to identify himself with Apollo.

e capitals situated at the outer corners

of the peristasis and ornamented with

busts of gods and bulls' heads as well as

the heads of Gorgons on the architrave,

show the baroque characteristics of the

2nd century AD.

e columns on the north side of the

temple, of which the workmanship is

complete, are all standing in their places,

whereas those on the west side were set

in their places, although their workman‐ship was incomplete, the latter now lie

on the ground, fallen in earthquakes.

Most of the columns on the south side

are missing, and it is understood that

they were never completed.

In the front of the temple, aer the dou‐ble row of columns, was the pronaos.

Also mentioned as the 12- columned

hall in archaeological literature, the

pronaos had a total of 12 columns in

three rows of four columns each, which

carried the roof (Dodecastylos). e

marks le by the #re of the Middle Ages

can be seen on the Attic styl, scale motifs

are carved on the upper parts of the an‐tae walls are pro#led in the same form.

is is the #rst time that this characteris‐

7Didim Today

tic, of which an example is in the

Porthenon, is seen in a Ionic temple.

ere were three doors in the rear wall

of the pronaos. e central door of mon‐umental appearance was 5.63 meters

wide and 14 meters high. e fact that its

threshold was placed 1.46 meters higher

than the 'oor of the pronaos shows that

there was no entrance from here to the

oracle hall. e prophecies of Apollo

were communicated by his pronouncers

to the people through this door. It is

therefore named the "Oracle Door". e

marble blocks on either side of the door

weigh 70 tons each are known as the

heaviest elements of antiquity.

e two other doors, one on either side

of the monumental door, were each 1.20

meters wide and 2.25 meters high, and

provided the entrance to the inner part

of the temple. ese doors were connect‐ed to the sacred courtyard by vaulted

and sloping narrow corridors. In the

lower parts of the corridors which

opened onto the Adytum were small di‐visions which had coffering in their ceil‐ings. Doric elements seen on the doors

are characteristics which remind one of

the propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis.

Only persons working in the temple and

priests could enter the inner part of the

temple. ese people would reach the

Adytum through the dark and mystic

corridors mentioned above.

To the east of the Adytum, between the

doors at the end of the corridors, was a

15.24 meter wide stairway consisting of

24 steps. ese stairs led to a 14.01 meter

long, 8.74 meter wide and 20 meter high

hall with three doors and two columns.

is hall which had no entrance from

the pronaos was Cresmographeion (the

hall of the oracle) which together with

the pronaos the #rst completed sections

of the temple. Only priests and mediums

could enter this hall, and they communi‐cated the prophecies to the people

through the above mentioned monu‐mental door. erefore, the Cresmo‐grapheion and the pronaos, which con‐stituted an entity, were considered the

most important divisions of the Didy‐maion. e two columns in the center of

the oracle hall had Corinthian capitals

and carried the roof. Understood to have

been built in the beginning of the 3rd

century BC on the evidence of their

characteristics, these capitals are consid‐ered to be among the earliest examples

of Corinthian capitals.

e doors the north and south sides of

the Cresmographeion open onto stepped

passages mentioned as Labyrinths in in‐scriptions. On the ceiling of the better

preserved southern corridor meander

motifs can be seen. ese passages

played an important role in acoustics

during cult ceremonies accompanied by

the chorus. e roof of the temple was

also reached by these passages.

e 21.71 meter wide and 53.63 meter

long Adytum is of a very striking appear‐ance with its 25 meter high walls and its

top open to the sky. e lower part of the

Adytum walls which are at the same level

as the Cresmographeion have the ap‐pearance of a high podium. eir base is

pro#led and the upper end is #nished

with a row of egg - and - dart molding.

e podium which is made of smooth

marble blocks displays a #ne workman‐ship. In the central parts of the walls are

pilasters in the form of half - columns.

Over the pilasters were pilaster capitals

ornamented with motifs of griffins or

vaulted plants, on the frieze between the

capitals were reliefs representing winged

lions holding Apollo's lyre between their

paws, and on top of it all was the cornice

ending in the cymatium. All these ele‐ments brought color to the long and ex‐cessively high walls. e decorations on

the walls of the Adytum bear the charac‐teristics of the Early Hellenistic period.

ese elements indicate that the Adytum

was built in the #rst half of the 2nd cen‐tury BC. It has also been proven by an

inscription that the Adytum had been

completed at that time.

One of the most important #ndings of

recent years in the Didymaion are the

drawings on the lower parts of the walls

of the Adytum. ese drawings which

can be seen with great difficulty and only

under certain lighting condition, #rst at‐tracted attention in 1979 and work was

begun on them in 1980. e work is be‐ing carried out by Lother Haselberg who

was the #rst to see the drawings. ese

were worked onto the smooth marble

walls of the Adytum by making about

half a millimeter deep incisions in the

surface of the marble by a very thin and

sharp point, and they represented the

plants of various elements and divisions

of the Didymaion. In order to obtain ac‐curate drawings, a grid consisting of hor‐izontal lines with 1.8 - 1.9 centimeter in‐tervals cut at regular intervals by per‐pendicular lines, was prepared before‐hand to serve as a scale. is grid facili‐tated the making of the actual drawings.

It is understood that these drawings

which are extremely accurate, were done

by the architects who worked on the

construction of the temple.

e plans cover an area of 200 square

meters. Some of the drawings were made

horizontally, whereas others are perpen‐dicular. In general, the horizontal draw‐ings are on a 1 to 1 scale, and the per‐pendicular ones on a 1 to 6 scale.

Besides the drawings of elements like

column bases and shas, the drawing of

o portion of the entablature of the niscos

was also discovered on the rear wall of

the Adytum. ese drawings, believed to

involve all the parts of the temple, will

throw a light upon many an unsolved

problem on the Didymaion, thus adding

new proportions to the work.

To the west of the Adytum stood the

naiscos which sheltered the cult statue.

e temple, of which only the remains of

the foundations can be seen today was

14.43 meters long and 8.24 meters wide.

e plan of the naiscos, reconstructed

from discovered fragments, was a pro-

style. e temple was a small building

with antae obtained by the projection of

the two side walls of the naos and four

Ionic columns in front. Column bases

were of the Ephesus type. e Ionic capi‐tals, antae capitals and entablature orna‐ments, all show Early Hellenistic charac‐teristics. Wall bases were pro#led in the

Attic style like the Adytum walls. e ed‐i#ce, which looked like the Zeus temple

at Priene, was the #rst Anatolian temple

built in the Hellenistic period under At‐tic in'uence. In contrast with the

smooth, ornament less walls, the entab‐lature was very richly decorated. e cof‐fering of the ceiling in the front hall and

the soffits of the lower part of the archi‐trave, were decorated with 'ower motifs

polychrome in various colors. It is ac‐cepted, according to the ornamentation

of the entablature, that the naiscos was

completed in 270 BC and that the cult

statue of Apollo which was brought from

Ecbatana, was put in its place in the naos

in 300 BC.

e reconstruction model of the naiscos,

constructed by putting together the dis‐covered architectural fragments, is kept

in the storeroom of the excavation

house.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF

THE TEMPLE

Besides being for centuries a very impor‐tant oracle seat, the Didymaion was also

renowned for its sacred water, sacred

grove, the many sacred elements it

housed, and its wealth. e riches of the

temple had its source in donations and

votive offerings made in varying forms.

e very valuable offerings of King Ne‐cho of Egypt, King Croesus of Lydia and

King Seleucus II of Pergamum, had an

important place among the donations

made to the Didymaion. e donation of

various sacri#cial animals, 1,000 in

number, and 12 rams by Lysimachus,

was also one of the interesting offerings.

e fact that Miletus attempted to build

a 'eet with the treasury of the temple be‐fore the battle of Lade, shows how rich

the Didymaion was.

One other feature of the Didymaion was

that it had the right to shelter. is right

which was termed "the Right of

Asylum", was the recognition of the right

of inviolability to people who took

refuge in the temple. e right of

asylum, which therefore created many

problems, had given rise to many a dis‐cussion. e boundaries of the right of

asylum, however, were gradually en‐larged and were increased to 3 kilome‐ters by Emperor Augustus Trajan en‐larged the boundaries even more and

wanted them to be recognized from the

beginning of the Sacred Road.

It is understood from inscriptions that

the festivities and ceremonies held every

year in spring went on even aer the

Didymaion was completely destroyed in

494 BC. e journey from Miletus to the

Didymaion was made by sea or by the

Sacred Road. e group of people who

set out from Miletus with ceremonies

begun in the Delphinion where they re‐ceived the sancti#cation of Apollo and

were sent forward by the Delphins, came

from the Lions' Harbour to the Panar‐mos Harbour, and from there reached

the Didymaion on foot. First, sacri#cial

beasts and votive offerings were present‐ed to the god, then, aer ceremonies to

the accompaniment of music and

chorus, the important persons entered

the temple, and aer that, the questions

asked by inquires were answered by the

oracle. e ceremonies were directed by

the Stephanephors. It was shown by in‐scriptions that the Emperors Augustus

a n d Tr a j a n t o o k t h e t i t l e o f

Stephanephor and carried out this posi‐tion. In the Roman period, the Sacred

Road gained in importance as the har‐bors #lled up with alluvial mud and trav‐el by sea became unfeasible.

e reason for this extremely impressive

and magni#cent temple's not being con‐sidered among the seven wonders of the

world is related by the authorities to its

not having been completed.

8 Didim Today

Major changes to Turkish law in 2012Looking back, I feel as though 2012 'ew

by so quickly, or maybe I feel that way

because I am getting older.

You know the theory “time goes quicker

as you get older.” is should be mathe‐matically correct and please correct me if

I am wrong. If you are only a one-day-

old baby, the whole day would seem like

a lifetime. When you are a 1 year old;

one day is already 1/365 of your life so it

elapses relatively faster.

For me, the year went very quickly but

looking at the performance of Parlia‐ment, which was eager to make laws, sub

legislation and decrees, they did quite a

lot in a very short time. In some cases,

instead of making real laws which are

clear to everyone, Parliament chose to

make a law giving the authority to the

Council of Ministers to regulate the mat‐ter later on.

Whether the government has the vast

majority of the seats in Parliament or

not, it is much easier to regulate things

amongst the members of the Council of

Ministers, who apparently are the most

dedicated people in the governing politi‐cal party. Having this power, the govern‐ment, indirectly through the Council of

Ministers, can easily make regulations

which may affect daily life. I do not agree

with this type of assignment of powers to

a limited number of people who can

make rules faster, easier and customize

them.

Indiscriminately opposing everything is

a great mistake for any opposition. is

kind of opposition may end up eliminat‐ing the opposition itself. Opposition

should be made with care and certain

decisions, actions, operations or policies

of the governing party should be appre‐ciated if they deserve such appreciation.

To sum up, the method of delegating

some powers to the Council of Ministers

is sometimes useful. In cases which need

fast action, it is a must or at least some‐thing which should be considered. I can‐not say the same for all matters, though.

For the sake of objectiveness, I will not

give any examples regarding this matter.

If I may go back to my topic, there were

many amendments to the Turkish legal

system during 2012. Considering the

topic to be central in respect to Turkey's

relations with the rest of the globe, I will

touch on some of the most important

ones from those amendments.

One of the amendments is that Turkey

revoked the reciprocity rule on the pur‐chase of property for foreigners in

Turkey. Before this amendment, foreign‐ers were not allowed to purchase proper‐ty in Turkey if Turkish citizens were not

able to purchase property in that

country. With this amendment, the re‐strictive reciprocity rule has been

quashed and some other restrictions

have become more lax. ereby, invest‐ments have increased, giving strength to

Turkish relations with other countries

without being dependent on reciprocity

rules.

Another amendment was to the Law on

Basic Provisions on Elections and the

Voter List in 2012. ere are millions of

Turkish citizens living abroad and before

this amendment, citizens living abroad

had to come to Turkey to participate in

the elections. With the amendment, the

possibility of voting at Turkish con‐sulates abroad has been provided to

these citizens. Of course, this is an im‐portant development for democratic

participation.

Turkey is located in an earthquake zone

and there have been many large-scale

earthquakes. To make provision against

damage caused by earthquakes, many

resolutions were adopted. One of them is

the Disaster Insurances Law and with an

amendment to this law, it is intended

that compulsory earthquake insurance

will become more effective. According to

the amendment, title deed offices will

seek to ensure that transactions are not

carried out unless properties are proper‐ly insured for earthquakes.

Surely, the most important change is the

new Turkish Commercial Code coming

into force in 2012. One of the basic

changes is the de#nition of minority

rights granted to the minority group

shareholders in companies. With the

new law, minority rights have been ex‐

panded and minority group shareholders

have more opportunities to be represent‐ed on a company's board.

e other amendment is to do with

transparency of companies. With this

amendment, any kind of information re‐lated to the company and audit reports

will be accessible to related third parties.

Parliament, as I said, made thousands of

regulations last year but these are the

ones of utmost importance in my opin‐ion. I hope that 2013 will be a better

year. Looking at the deaths that are oc‐curring, I might be engaged in wishful

thinking.

NOTE: Berk Çektir is a Turkish lawyer

and available to answer questions on the

legal aspects of living and doing business

in Turkey. Please send inquiries to b.cek‐tir@todayszaman.com. If a sender's let‐ter is published, names may be disclosed

unless otherwise expressly stated by the

sender.

9Didim Today

PlayStation 4 Coming Soon

e curtain is lied on the future of

gaming. Here’s your rundown on the

news from PlayStation Meeting 2013 in

New York. Discover what’s been revealed

so far about PlayStation 4, the new DU‐ALSHOCK 4 controller and the initial

games line-up.

PlayStation 4

PS4 promises games that can be experi‐enced whenever, wherever and however

you want, thanks to a system specially

built to cater to the needs of the best de‐velopers in the world.

You’ll be able to play digital titles as they

download from PlayStation Store, and

update PS4 even when it is switched off.

Immediately pick up any saved game

where you le off – the “suspend mode”

of PS4 gets rid of loading times and lets

you carry on by simply pressing the

power button.

Gaikai technology will let you instantly

try out sections of any game that catches

your eye on PlayStation Store.

Check out what your friends are up to

and see the games, TV shows, movies

and music recommended especially for

you on the newly designed PS4 menu

screen.

Broadcast as you play via Ustream. If

you get stuck, your mates can join in to

help you or offer comments in real time.

You can use a variety of applications,

such as a web browser, while you play a

game. Your favourite PS4 games will be

playable on PlayStation Vita via Wi-Fi

with Remote Play.

Meanwhile, the new PlayStation App lets

you turn your smartphone into a second

screen – for example, to let you view a

map or see how a friend is tackling the

same part of a game.

DUALSHOCK 4

A new, built-in sensor will enable highly

sensitive motion control. You’ll be able

to interact with games in new ways

thanks to a touch pad on the front of the

controller.

Additional sound effects will come from

an inbuilt speaker; a headset jack lets

you hear these in detail as well as chat

with friends.

e controller’s familiar dual analog

sticks have been enhanced to provide

better precision.

New, curved L2 and R2 buttons will give

you greater control.

Upload images and video to Facebook

with a tap of the new SHARE button.

An LED Light Bar on the top of the con‐troller will match the colour of in-game

characters so players can keep track of

each other. You’ll also be able to spot

when a character has been injured, for

instance.

A new camera has been developed

alongside the controller, and tracks the

location of DUALSHOCK 4 via its LED

Light Bar.

e games..

So get ready for PS4 soon because much

more to see.

10 Didim Today

Turkish champion Galatasaray has made an easy task look difficultTurkish champion Galatasaray has made

an easy task look difficult aer it could

only manage a 1-1 draw with German

Bundesliga struggler Schalke 04 in their

UEFA Champions League last 16 #rst

match at Türk Telekom Arena in Şişli on

Wednesday evening.

e Lions, as Galatasaray is popularly

called in football circles, was expected to

beat Schalke 04 in İstanbul and turn the

re tu r n l e g at Ve l t i ns - A re n a i n

Gelsenkirchen on March 12 into a mere

formality. “You can't always get what you

want,” according to the Rolling Stones,

and therefore Fatih Terim's men had to

make do with a draw.

Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim, as ex‐pected, #elded his two recent expensive

signings -- Dutch mid#elder Wesley

Sneijder and veteran Cote d'Ivoire strike

Didier Drogba in his starting line-up.

Aer all, this duo was acquired during

the January transfer window to help the

team progress in the Champions League.

But Sneijder, who had been sidelined by

Inter for three months over a salary cut

dispute before joining Galatasaray,

showed serious signs of match un#tness

-- meaning he is not yet physically and

mentally #t to make the starting XI in

the big-time Champions League.

Moreover, Terim #elding the Dutchman

in the le wing position made that 'ank

Galatasaray's weakest link and that's

where the Lions were most vulnerable,

especially in the #rst half, and it was also

where Schalke 04 launched most of its

deadly attacks. Little wonder Sneijder

was substituted aer half time.

Drogba displays his class

Drogba, though not yet 100 percent #t,

was nonetheless more impressive on his

C h a m p i o n s L e a g u e d e b u t f o r

Galatasaray. e Ivory Coast striker, last

year's Champions League hero for

Chelsea who moved to the Lions last

month aer a spell in China, linked up

well with Burak Yılmaz in attack.

Burak scored his seventh goal in seven

Champions League matches -- all the

goals Galatasaray has netted in the com‐petition this season, putting his side

ahead in the 12th minute when he

picked up a pass from Selçuk İnan and

'icked the ball around a defender to

send in a stinging right-footed shot past

Schalke goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand.

“We scored a beautiful goal early in the

game with Selçuk's intelligent pass and

Burak's talented shot. We could have

scored a second goal; we found the

chances. e game could have taken a

totally different shape,” Reuters quoted

Terim as saying.

Schalke equalized at the stroke of a very

exciting #rst half. e visiting team

broke quickly, Jefferson Farfan passing

across the goal to Jermaine Jones, who

side-footed past Fernando Muslera.

“We played very well tonight and did

many right things on the pitch. We

found many chances but made individu‐al mistakes, one of which cost us a goal,”

said Schalke coach Jens Keller.

“We could have scored more goals, but I

am very happy with our performance in

this great atmosphere,” he added. “We

will learn lessons from this game and

take necessary precautions for the sec‐ond leg.”

Faithful fans

Spurred on by the passionate home fans,

the Lions soon began to demonstrate

their attacking power in what was an

open game from the outset.

Schalke had a chance to equalize soon

aer Burak's opener, but Klaas-Jan

Huntelaar failed to steer the ball in at the

far post.

Hamit Altıntop nearly doubled the home

team's lead in the 18th minute with a

powerful shot which ricocheted off the

bar aer Hildebrand saved an effort from

Drogba, who took the winning penalty

for Chelsea in last season's #nal

shootout.

Burak had another chance to score in the

38th minute when Drogba put him

through on goal but Hildebrand blocked

his shot.

e match continued to alternate attacks

in the second half and Farfan had a

chance to put the visitors ahead in the

55th minute, but his effort was blocked

by Sabri Sarıoğlu.

In the #nal stages, Galatasaray pressed

harder for the winner while Schalke

hung on for a draw.

Burak had a great chance to put

Galatasaray back ahead in the 77th

minute, but he #red wide of the Schalke

goal.

“We could have scored or conceded in

the second half. Of course, Schalke holds

the advantage now, having forced us to a

draw, but we will keep chasing the

chances until the very last second,” Ter‐im said.

In other words, Terim, like his Schalke

counterpart, has a lesson to learn from

Wednesday's game before the second leg

in Germany next month. One thing is al‐most certain: Sneijder will start from the

bench and may only be #elded depend‐ing on the result at Veltins-Arena on

March 12.

e Galatasaray coach and his men real‐ly have plenty of time to do their home‐work and #ll those gaping holes in mid‐#eld and defense.

11Didim Today

Google Attempts to Rede"ne the Mobile Market in 2013

Last week Google already announced it’s

no longer allowing advertisers to target

desktop and mobile users separately

within AdWords. Which means we all

know that everyone trying to control

mobile advertising this days and increase

every other day! Baking mobile into

desktop means a major simpli#cation to

how advertisers track and manage cam‐paigns, which in turn means CPCs for

both channels will become the same. Ad‐ditionally, consumers could potentially

receive marketing content in non-opti‐mized formats.

In effect, Google is removing some of the

choices for advertisers who want to tar‐get different devices or operating sys‐tems and forcing everyone to pay more

for mobile inventory, which typically

commands a lower CPC than desktop

inventory.

Brand advocates, marketing managers

and tech enthusiasts alike are uni#ed in

their response: e market isn’t ready for

this kind of change, even as Google

squeezes more money out of advertisers

while limiting the controls they have

over managing their campaigns.

As part of the explanation for the

change, Google has pointed to the gener‐al increase in time spent on mobile de‐vices, which in turn has forced advertis‐ers to cobble together and compare sev‐eral different campaigns. While this is

true on some level, and mobile and desk‐top are steadily moving towards a point

of convergence, they simply aren’t there

yet.

Marketers and publishers have different

goals and business models for desktop

and mobile, and many are still working

out a mobile strategy. Forcing their hand

has the potential to cause adverse effects

for the advertising ecosystem.

According to a new report, only 16 per‐cent of marketers (out of 250 surveyed

globally) have even developed a mobile

strategy aimed at building customer en‐gagement, and only 14 percent are satis‐#ed with the way their brands are access‐ing and leveraging mobile. e fact re‐mains that advertisers have plenty more

work to do optimizing both their content

and their strategies before the market

reaches a level of maturity indicative of

Google’s rationale.

At Outbrain, our philosophy is that buy‐ers should have choices when it comes to

where their campaigns run so they can

better derive the most value and provide

users and publishers with device-opti‐mized experiences. Ultimately, these

campaign levers can result in better ROI

for marketers and the best experience for

end users.

e industry as a whole is working hard

to adapt to the rapid shi from desktop

to mobile, but until the convergence be‐tween the two worlds is more complete,

the more transparent and 'exible the

system, the better for all parties.

12 Didim Today

Advertise Here

13Didim Today

Yacht Weddings in Altinkum Now!

Altinkum Weddings in 2013 start to of‐fer boat, yacht weddings for you now

and why not have your aer wedding re‐ception-party on a fully decorated dou‐ble decker Boat departing from Al‐tinkum Harbour, which is 5 minutes

away from Altinkum? All the yacht or

boat weddings includes starters, BBQ,

Aers, Music, alot of local drinks.. But‐ler service under the moonlight and

stars. We decorate the vehicles, both,

Bride-Bridegroom Vip and Guests Vehi‐cle We will pick you all up from your Al‐tinkum Hotels or apartments in Al‐tinkum Turkey.

We will take you to Altinkum Harbour

where the boats are. We get to the deco‐rated boat. Downstairs are the tables and

bar and toilets, upstairs ideal for dancing

or watching the stars on the sky. Meal in‐cludes BBQ Chicken or BBQ Fresh Fish,

Salad, Starters, Pasta, Fruit.

Complimentary bottle of Champagne

will be served to Bride and Bridegroom

from Altinkum Weddings. Drinks are

extra to remaining guests always. Little

bit #re crackers will be also added to

make your evening colorful, not as much

as the amount used on the new year cele‐brations around the globe.

Aer the cruise we will dock back on the

harbour. If you wish you can visit a nice

bar in Altinkum or we take you back to

your Hotels, apartments in Altinkum

Didim or Akbuk.

Dont forget this kind of wedding pack‐ages suitable for all ages, under 18 with

legal guardian or permission. You can al‐ways contact Altinkum Weddings Plan‐ners and get more details and even qoute

today right now.

Weddings in Turkey never been this easy

because we do all the legal paper works

for you and assist with all the way!

14 Didim Today

Protesting against DolphinAer a nice and very friendly demon‐stration in the center of Zuerich, the ac‐tivists now put their promise to junk a

Japanese car into effect. With this action

they want to put a stop to the Japanese

dolphin- and whale-hunt.

Angie Neuhaus from Lucerne sacri#ced

her Japanese car for this action: “is car

is still running, but I did not want to

drive it around any more on our roads.

All the reports from Japan about the

slaughter of dolphins and the hunts to

sell them worldwide to the dolphin in‐dustry, as well as the whale hunts, have

made me very sad and I shall very care‐fully pay attention that I do not own any

Japanese products and I will not buy any

in the future.”

At the very impressive demonstration in

the center of Zuerich, animal protection

activists and passing pedestrians were

able to write their opinions about the

Japanese dolphin and whale hunts on the

car. Amongst those were: ”Freedom for

the Dolphins!”, “Stop the Killing”, and

“Shame on the Murderers of Taiji”. Many

a pedestrian, amongst them some Orien‐tals, were quite surprised about this ac‐tion and the approval rate was quite

high.

e demonstration in Switzerland was

co-organized by Andreas Morlok, CEO

of the German dolphin- and whale pro‐tection organization ProWal, who had

been an eye witness to several of the dol‐phin drive-hunts in Japan:

“Dolphins are caught at these hunts and

then sold for more than 100.000 Euros

to dolphinariums all over the world. is

is a lucrative billion-dollar business for

the #shermen, handlers and the whole

dolphin industry. All the animals that

are captive in the around 330 dolphinari‐ums, in existence all around the world,

are being exploited for commercial gain

until their death. ose member of a

dolphin family that have been caught

and are not material to be used for

breeding purposes, because they might

have scars or skin lesions from #ghts

with sharks, will be slaughtered by the

Japanese #shermen. Even young animals

or babies are not saved. Mainly Bot‐tlenose-Dolphins, Striped-Dolphins,

Risso’s dolphins, Spotted-Dolphins,

Short-#nned Pilot-Whales, Small Killer-

Whales and Dall-Porpoises are being

caught and killed in the coastal waters

around Japan. e #shermen get about

400 Euros for the meat of a dolphin,

which is sold on the local markets.

We also condemn the false scienti#c

whale hunt of the Japanese, which in re‐ality is nothing but a commercial enter‐prise. e scienti#c results that are

gained hereby, are totally worthless, be‐cause the dead whales are only measured

and the stomach content is examined to

#nd out, what the animals ate.

Only very seldom dioxin analyses are

performed, because people are afraid

that the results, which are bound to

show that the whale meat is contaminat‐ed with mercury and other environmen‐

tal poisons, will turn the consumers

away. Although the demand for whale

meat is shrinking in Japan and the coun‐try meanwhile is sitting on a mountain

of 5.000 tons of frozen and unsellable

whale meat, several hundred whales are

still being killed under different whaling

programs in the Antarctic and in the Pa‐ci#c.”

e animal protection activists will con‐tact the Japanese government and will

show them the power of the consumer

with their action. e Japanese car was

expertly delivered to the junkyard in

Switzerland. Angie Neuhaus meanwhile

is driving a new car, which is much more

to her liking. It is a French product.

e confrontations for the Japanese

whale hunters are getting more and more

numerous. Just a short while ago the en‐vironmental protection organization

“Seashepherd” discovered the Japanese

whaling 'eet in the Antarctic.

15Didim Today

She was among the core that founded the PKK with Abdullah OcalanWhat do the corpses of three Kurdish

women activists of the PKK found killed

with silenced weapons at the Kurdish In‐formation Center of Paris in the early

hours of Jan. 10 tell us? e keys to an

answer are actually in the question

above. e identities of the victims re‐veal important points. Sakine Cansiz,

said to be above 55 years of age, was an

important #gure inside the PKK.

She was among the core that founded the

PKK with Abdullah Ocalan. As such, she

had a substantial and emblematic posi‐tion in the history of the Kurdish move‐ment. We are told that she spent 10 years

in the Diyarbakir Prison, notorious for

torture and ill treatment of Kurdish pris‐oners, following the 1980 military coup

and that she had become one of the sym‐bols of resistance in prison. Sakine Can‐siz was a prominent name among politi‐cized Kurdish women. With all her par‐ticulars and background, she won’t be

simply forgotten by Kurdish nationalists.

e second person killed, Fidan Dogan,

31, was the representative in France of

the National Kurdistan Congress, which

also made her a valuable target. e

third victim was a younger woman, ac‐tivist Leyla Soylemez, 24.

Comments by French President Francois

Hollande, carried by the Turkish press,

offer clues on the extent of the political

activities of the victims: “is disastrous

incident has directly affected three per‐sons, one of whom I knew personally, as

she was meeting with us regularly. Many

politicians and I knew her.”

e murder of these persons is a heavy

trauma for the Kurdish movement in

Turkey and Kurdish public opinion. Ad‐verse consequences should be expected.

e timing of the murders also offers

signi#cant clues. e murders took place

at a time of preliminary contacts be‐tween Turkish state officials and the

PKK’s founding leader Abdullah Ocalan,

who is serving a life senence in prison.

e Turkish side had described these

talks as intending to persuade the PKK

give up its arms.

Many observers, including the spokes‐men for the Kurdish movement, believe

that these contacts with Ocalan at a spe‐cial prison on the Imrali Island in the

Sea of Marmara have not yet been ele‐vated to a systematic peace-negotiations

process seeking to end the Kurdish issue

between the Turkish government and

the PKK. But there was hope that such a

process could start soon.

at is why the Paris murders serve the

interests of actors who would like to de‐stroy the process even before it starts.

And there are powerful actors who don’t

want Turkey to reconcile with its own

Kurds for the time being and whose in‐terests could be harmed by such a peace.

e technique of the murders speaks

volumes as well. Only professionals can

commit perfect murders. e office door

had coded entry system, but it was

opened without force. is tells us that

the victims probably knew the killers, or

the killers want us to think that. e near

consensus in Turkey is that the killers

wanted to destroy a peace process. If it is

a conspiracy against peace, and it is, then

we have to look for answers to two ques‐tions:

Who would want to block peace?

And who among them would have ade‐quate intelligence and operational capa‐bility to carry out such a perfect murder

in Paris?

Let’s start with the “Turkish-agents” hy‐pothesis, the immediate “usual suspect”

of Kurdish public opinion in Turkey and

in the Diaspora. For the culprites to be

agents working for the Turkish govern‐ment is a most absurd allegation. Why

would a government that wants the PKK

to give up arms want to block the pro‐cess with its invisible hands? And why

would it endanger its very valuable Turk‐ish-French relations by committing mur‐ders on French soil? Unless they are to‐tally moronic, this is unthinkable.

ere is also suspicion of a “deep Turkish

state,” which also out of place. In the

Turkish political lexicon, the “deep state”

is an illegal, unaccountable phenomenon

that uses state facilities and commits

crimes for the so-called “high interests”

of the state. We knew that Turkey’s for‐mer military/bureaucratic tutelage

regime was opposed to a political settle‐ment of the Kurdish issue. e “deep

state’” was an adjunct of this regime. e

AKP rule eliminated this tutelage regime

and all the institutions that the “deep

state” relied on either came under gov‐ernment control or were eradicated.

16 Didim Today

Harmony Bay in Akbuk

erefore, the probability of the provo‐cation in Paris to be organized by the

remnants of the Turkish “deep state” is

close to nil. If they had any potency, they

would have used it for provocations on

Turkish soil. As to the assumption that

“Turkish nationalists” could have com‐mitted the murder, this is also without

foundation. ey have neither the back‐ground nor the operational capability for

such actions abroad. If they really meant

to do it, it would have been much easier

for them to stage such provocations in

Turkey. e #nal analysis was by Turkish

government officials, who said the Paris

murders could be an “internal PKK ac‐count settling.” Even if the ones who

pulled the triggers may have been people

known to the victims, we can’t ignore the

element of timing, which could not be

distinguished from the Ocalan-Turkish

government contacts.

It would be naïve not to understand that

those who planned the murders sought

to raise questions about the Ocalan-gov‐ernment contacts, to instill atmosphere

of distrust and #nally erase the hopes for

peace.

It is impossible to ignore such a spectac‐ular crime in one of the important cen‐ters of the world just as peace was com‐ing onto the agenda.

If they had done something similar in

the mountains of Turkey, it would have

been ignored, but not in Paris. at Paris

was the scene of the crime also tells us

things. e possibility that the killers

were PKK militants just like the victims

could not be treated separately from the

regionalization of Turkey’s Kurdish issue.

e Syrian crisis led to regionalization of

Turkey’s Kurdish issues, and Ankara’s

Syria policy made potential results much

more menacing for Turkey. You can no

longer ignore the involvements of Iran,

Baghdad, Erbil, Damascus and Syrian

Kurds as parties to the Kurdish issue.

It is not a secret that among these actors

there may be those who want a solution

to Turkey’s Kurdish issue even less than

the Kurdish hawks, and who want to

maintain this issue as an instrument that

could be used against Turkey when

needed. It must never be forgotten that

among the powers who may want to

block progress on a negotiation process

may have their own extensions inside the

PKK.

It’s still unclear who killed three women

prominent in Turkey’s Kurdish autono‐my movement, who were found shot to

death in Paris on ursday, and why.

One of the three, Sakine Cansiz, was a

founding member of the rebel PKK

movement and #rst senior female mem‐ber of the organization. e other two,

Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez, where

activists working on behalf of the PKK

in Europe.

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