Turkey to go Caustic

I am still reading (for the second half-assed time) The Lost Heart of Asia. I heard recenty that Turkey gave China a strong warning against tormening Turkic peoples, who are themselves historically intertwined with the Mongols.

This country puzzles me. It is practically Hellenic, the land that Helen of Troy was native to. Then the Romans arrived. Various Slavic and Caucasoid types streamed in and out. And then in comes a small band of Turkic warriors, first Seljuks and then Oghuz, and lo and behold, a people that can as easily look German as Mongol decidedly becomes the voice of Turania, and for a while, the pinnacle of Islam too.

I suppose I need to dust my old copy of The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, for this sojourn.

But the most important book is the pocket-sized (if you have very large pockets) notebook that I finally purchased specifically for this trip. I am looking forward to looking on the wonders of Turkey.

Specifically, the women. But then again, perhaps I'll keep that to myself.