why turkey?

okay, so i'm prepping to leave for turkey. i have absolutely nothing ready, including a place to stay yet. yes, i'm a little freaked out- but mostly i'm excited.
as with armenia, i expect to blog once or twice a week, depending on where i am and how things go. sometimes, i'll probably wax theoretical about secularism or something else that interests me. mostly, i'll stick to travel highlights and a few pictures. more pictures will be posted on the almighty facebook.

so, before i go, a quick answer to the most common question: "why turkey?"
1) historic armenia: eastern turkey is western armenia. van, ani (although i most likely won't get there), cilicia, and chomaklou (the family village). my anthropology work focuses on armenian identity, and therefore i want to see as much of "armenia" as possible. the modern republic and caucausian armenian culture does not exhaust all what it means to be armenian.
2) istanbul: one of the most cosmopolitan, interesting, ancient cities in the world. orhan pamuk's my name is red sold me on the city.
3) turkish and ottoman history: fascinating in its own, see point 1. to understand all things armenian, turkish and ottoman history much be understood. i consider it impossible to fully understand the "armenian psyche" without understanding its relationship with the "turkish psyche."
4) secularism: turkey is one of the most fascinating countries in terms of one the focuses of my work, namely secularism. when atatürk founded the modern republic of turkey, he made it avowedly secular. he abolished the use of the arabic script for writing turkish and founded the republic on a very strict "separation of church and state." the recent outrage over the new law allowing headscarves to be worn in universities is just the most recent example of this legacy. as such, turkey will be highly interesting for my future research goals.

so, these are the basic answers to the "why turkey?" question, leaving out of course, the most simple: adventure.