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about turkey

Turkish

Culture

Not all is Kebab

Apart from the well-known kebab, Turkish gastronomy offers many varied dishes:

• Meze: they are very popular apetizers and they can be very varied, although the most popular ones are made

with aubergine, cheese, seafood, olives and peppers.

• Dolma: It consists on a vine leaf cooked in live oil and filled with rice, spices and lemon.

• Lahmacum: It is known as the Turkish pizza and it consists of a fine dough on top of which there are mince with

onion sprayed with lemon, spices, ...

• Baklava:they are cakes made with walnuts, pistachios and other kinds of nuts, and honey syrup.

Music from many different cultures

• Because of bordering Europe, North Africa,The Far East and Central and South Asia, Turkey is an area of confluence between many and very different cultures, something which has influenced its own culture, particularly in the field of music.

• Traditional Turkish music, Türk Halk Müzi, consists of various styles according to the different areas of the

country .For example, we can find Horon, a traditional dance of the Black Sea, which is played with an

instrument which is similar to the violin.

• The most outstanding Turkish musical instruments are: Bağlama, bendir, derbake, duduk, kamanché, ney, canon,

riq, saz, tar e turna. Each of them comes from different areas, such as The Middle East, North Africa, Persia, ...

Religion

Islam is the majoritarian religion in Turkey. The vast majority of the population is Sunni Muslim although much of the population is Shiite. We can also point out the Sufi population, another branch of Islam that originated in Turkey.

The mosques are the place of worship for the Muslims. To enter the mosques women should cover their head and both men and women go barefeet. The most famous mosque in Turkey is the Blue Mosque, in Istambul.