The Silk Road and the Magic Carpets of Turkey

In 1270-71, the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, who visited Iconium (today’s Konya, Turkey), wrote about seeing “the most beautiful carpets in the world, and the most magnificent colors.” Today, these magnificent colors are still present in nature and in carpets when I visit Turkey. and I like to share their magic with my friends and tour participants.

First, a little information about Turkey. Looking at a map, we see that a small portion of the country is in Europe and a much larger portion is in Asia. The European part of Turkey, called Thrace, is separated from the Asian side – Anatolia – by the Bosphorous, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles Straits.

Rectangular in shape, Turkey covers 301,000 square miles (an area about the size of Texas and maine put together), including 5,000 miles of coastline. Turkey’s Anatolian coastline is dramatically different in look and feel from Central Anatolia. The west coast, on the Aegean Sea, is a traveler’s paradise known for it’s natural beauty and rich history. Both the western and the northern coasts have a very favorable climate with lush vegetation, especially along the Black Sea. It’s no wonder that most of the civilizations that settled Turkey from the west chose the western coast of Anatolia to live in.

As you move inland, the plateau of Anatolia rises to an average about 3,000 feet above sea level. The landscape becomes very different from the coast. Soils and rocks are soft and volcanic, which has allowed erosion to create many shapes and colors. The wide horizon, with its immaculate blue skies and surreal landscapes, possesses a truly poetic grandeur. It was here that the great migration of Turkic tribes from Central Asia chose to settle as they searched for new pastures.

Anatolia is the place where European West meets Asian East not only geographically, but artistically as well. Since the earliest recorded time, many races and cultures have inhabited Asia Minor. Each wave of conquerors, immigrants and merchants brought with it a new culture and assimilated some of the local culture. Conversely, each new culture was absorbed to some degree into the existing one, thus greatly enriching it. The same is true in art, especially folk art, since it is a mirror image of the people expressing themselves. Once I started to understand and feel the diversity of Anatolia, my appreciation of Anatolian carpets grew immensely.

Although it is difficult to give an exact classification of Anatolian carpets, they are generally split into Western, Central and Eastern Anatolian categories. When we look at Anatolian carpets more than 100 years old, what makes them unique compared to carpets from other countries is exactly what Marco Polo saw in 1270 when he visited Iconium: color, color and color. The classical Seldjuk carpets of the 13^th century that Polo noted certainly cannot be recreated today, but the magic of their colors continues to be the main inspiration and focus of Turkish carpets.

Much of present day knowledge and study of color in Anatolian carpets is credited to W. Bruggermann and Harald Bohmer. Their book on “Rugs of the Peasants and Nomads of Anatolia,” published by K&A in Munchen, Germany, in 1983, is the most serious attempt to study and understand the importance of color in Anatolian carpets. Their studies show that Western Anatolian carpets are dominated by red and blue, while yellow and other colors are used little or sparsely. In Central Anatolian carpets, yellow can be the dominant color, while any colors and hues are acceptable in Eastern Anatolian carpets, with the exception of yellow. Thus, when we speak about the red and blue background Bergama carpets, or the yellow ground Konya carpets, or the unreal combinations of three, four or five different reds used in Eastern Anatolian carpets, the magic of Anatolian carpets comes alive.

Unfortunately, this magic of color in Anatolian carpets was almost destroyed in the 19^th century with the early introduction of synthetic dyes. The quality of synthetic dyes is much better today and cannot even be compared to the first aniline dyes synthesized by Perkins in 1856. However, the color combinations obtained with the use of natural dyes that come from plants, roots and insects cannot be matched by the use of synthetic dyes, even today.

In a way, the colors of their carpets reflect the history of Anatolia’s people: Each new culture was absorbed to some degree into the existing one, greatly enriching both. This absorption was reflected in the carpets as new colors were introduced by the conquerors and then deftly absorbed and balanced into the carpet makers’ palettes.

Today, most carpet production in Turkey still uses synthetic dyes. They are easy to use and much cheaper than vegetable dyes. Who cares if they are harsh? A chemical wash corrects the situation (although it destroys the structure of the wool fiber) and a strong chemical wash gives the muted colors so much desired by the Western taste. While visiting many of the carpet shops in the Grand Bazaar, you will hear merchants all claim that their carpets use natural vegetable dyes. But be wary and examine the pile carefully, and compare both the front and back of the carpet. In carpets that have been artificially bleached with chemicals, the black wool is clipped to give the appearance of corrosion found in old carpets. It is our Western taste for a certain “look” and our desire to buy cheap that has inspired the creation of so many fakes and has hurt us in the end.

Since1980, there are real and very serious efforts to revive the use of natural vegetable dyes. Most of the villages we visit during my Rug Study tours have active projects using natural dyes. The most famous one is the DOBAG Project started in 1981, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Harald Bohmer and the University of Marmara. DOBAG stands for “Dogal Boya Arastirma ve Gelistirme Projesi,” Turkish for “Research and Development Project for Natural Dyes.”

The DOBAG project cooperates with village cooperatives in selected pilot districts in Western Anatolia. It organizes courses on dyeing, classical carpet design and weaving, both at the University of Marmara and in the pilot villages. Each village cooperative has a president, a master dyer and weavers. A team of expert weavers and members of the project closely watch the quality of each carpet produced under the auspices of DOBAG. Carpets accepted by the team of experts receive individual numbers and are sold with a certificates that guarantee their quality.

DOBAG was the catalyst for similar projects to use natural vegetable dyes. Although smaller in scope, the KOK project started in Konya by Michael Bischof and his students Memduh Kurtul and Mumin Kurnaz, and their master weaver Suzan Yalcin, revived the saturated colors and design combinations typical of Central Anatolia. A project much larger than either DOBAG or KOK is the one started some 20 years ago by George Jevremovic, “Woven Legends,” based in Philadelphia. Woven in mountainous eastern Turkey, the project’s carpets have established a new level of quality, design and innovation in contemporary Turkish carpet production.

The beauty, richness and historical importance of Anatolia’s weaving traditions are a reflection of the creativity of its people. Carpet weaving is firmly rooted in the fiber of Anatolian society. I believe that it is only once you go beyond the material product and start to see and feel the link between people and weaving that you can start to appreciate the uniqueness of the carpets, contemporary or old. Understanding the people who make these wonderful woven treasures is in its own way a “magic carpet” to insight, empathy and appreciation.

Samy Rabinovic, is the founder and owner of New Horizons International, a company developing cultural tours off the beaten path to Turkey and Central Asia. He is a US-educated polymer chemist, an expert in organizational dynamics, a lecturer and a rug aficionado or “ruggie”. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, he loves art, history and people, thus his interest in the rich culture of his native land. He enjoys continuing his own exploration and informal field study of Turkic history, Central Asia and Anatolia, while sharing the rich cultural and historical heritage of the countries he visits with fellow travelers.