Whereas when the political function has joined or overridden the economic function, towns tend to be larger, progressive and urban. However rural a town may appear to the outsider, there is a distinct difference between a town and the surrounding villages. In a typical village, houses with their courtyards are built around a central place. Land for agriculture surrounds the village. In each village, there is usually a mosque, a school, a coffeehouse, guest rooms and some small shops.
Village life starts very early, usually before sunrise.
After cleaning and tidying up the house, the animals are taken care of. Milking the sheep or cows and eating breakfast are early morning tasks before the serious work starts. Only after all this do children go to school and people to the fields to work. The large majority of Anatolian villages are self sufficient. They produce their own food according to their production range and for winter they prepare food grown in the summer or autumn months.