The Sidney herald., 1956-07-26
Bill Lassey
Writes From
nkara Turkey
Ankara, Turkey
July 7, 1855

Jul 4, 1901
Nerhaba Hello),
Tomorrow we go to Semsun to
begin the real experience of IFYE,
living with the people out in the
villages. If the people in the vii
lagos are as hospitable and as
kind as the Turkish people we
have met so far, / know that our
stay in the villages will be a lot
of fun and very interesting.
Since the last letter, we have
travelled from Istanbul to An
kara by train and have been in
Ankara for three days. We were
seeing some of the sights in
Istanbul on independence Day,
July 4th, and it was certainly one
of the most interesting holidays
I've ever spent. OF course, 1t wasn't
a holiday in Turkey so the people
were going about their daily work
as usual. 1t was most interesting
to watch them.
When we landed in Instanbul,
we were met by Waldo Rowan,
Assistant Agricultural Attache to
Turkey, and Sukru Ergar, a young
Turk who was an IFYE to the
u. S. in 1858. Sukru is a great
guy and was good enough to be
our guide in Istanbul. He took
us to the Blue Mosque, one of the
most beautiful structures l have
ever seen. / took several pictures
of it SO if they turn out, I'll be
able to show you what / mean
when / get back.
We saw st. Sophia, which
is n of the most famous build
ings in the world and also one
of the largest. 1t was built in the
fourteenth century and it really
is interesting to explore. VIZ also
visited the old palace of the sui
tanS, now a museum. There are
collections of old treasures and
masterpieces of art that are of
almost priceless value. 1t is prob
ably one of the most valuable and
beautiful collections anywhere in
the world today.
Istanbul is considered n of
the most beautiful cities in the
world and we were told by Tur-
keys Under Secretary of Agricul-
ture that you could SEE parts of
history there from the time Tur-
key was founded and even before.
We walked through the streets in
the old part of the city and were
certainly willing to agree with
him. We felt quite at home there
though because we saw Ameri-
can cars and trucks all over. APP
proximately 800 of the automo-
biles and trucks in Turkey are
American-made. Our taxi around
town was a 1852 Chevrolet.
People in this part of the world
still have much to learn about
and preservation
We walked through a covered
market place where the meat,
vegetables and bread are
left right in the open air. They
use cold water for washing dishes
in many places and just don't
to realize that germs are
there. This is one reason, OF
course, for the high rate of di-
sease in the primitive countries
such as much of Turkey. !,
We took q train from Ankara
Istanbul and were amazed 8
when our porter loaded five suit
Eases on his back weighing over
200 pounds and carried them to
he train. MI. Rowan tells US 6
hat one of these fellows picked
I'D a nine cubic foot refrigerator
md carried it up five flights OF
to his apartment. They must Z
'eally have strong backs. j
We were met at the station by
)avut Arts, Director Of the Agrl-
cultural Extension for all Of Tur- !
,ey; Bill Won Seggern, Agricul-
ural Attache for the United
states, and several other people.
The United States Information S
Service took some pictures of the
,roup as we got off the train and
yesterday we saw ourselves in al