Reconnecting with my Turkish history on a Mongolian expedition

Dia Akilli
Sep 8, 2018 · 4 min read
Bilge Khagan Inscription, Orkhon Valley.

“Turkish People, hearken to this ! Did not Heaven above fall down, or the earth below open, who could then have destroyed your kingdom? “ Bilge Khagan.

Destiny is full of unpredictable events, and I would never guess that I would be flying to Mongolia for work, the country which I used to read and study about during my elementary and high school years.

Upon arrival, I connected with a trustworthy guide and driver that took me to the Orkhon Valley, despite my original intention to research Chinggis Khaan and collect data about his empire for the game I’m building.

Since I started to refresh my childhood memories of lessons about the ancient inscriptions so meaningful to my Turkish history, it became inevitable for me to make the Orkhon Valley my first stop in Mongolia, even before Chinggis Khaan artifacts.

We left Ulaanbaatar very early in the morning, and after the city limits passed I was amazed by the magnitude of nature of Mongolia; golden steppes, flocks of goat, wild horses, undulating hills, sand dunes, and more. It felt like another planet. Driving all day we hardly saw another vehicle. I lost myself in existential thoughts but made the effort to take pictures and videos of the pristine nature and wild animals on our way. It took all day for us to reach the Orkhon Valley, arriving too late to visit the museum. We decided to stay in a Ger Camp for the night where we had an amazing sleep in our traditional Nomadic tent known as a Ger. We started early the next morning toward the museum which contains the Bilge Khagan and Kultigin Inscriptions and Gokturk artifacts. It was my chance to go back in time and be there during the times of early Turkish history.

We took the path built with the support of the Turkish government, named after one of the biggest Khagans of Gokturk Empire, Bilge Khagan. I started to film my experience immediately upon arrival at the museum. My goal was to create a virtual tour of the museum and around the monuments which were left outside of the museum.

After finishing documenting the interior with my 360-degree videos we walked to the site, which was home to the Orkhon inscriptions including two memorial installations erected by the Gokturks, written in the Old Turkic Alphabet in the early 8th century. They were erected in honor of 2 Turkic princes, Kultigin and his brother Bilge Khagan. Seeing the inscriptions, which are the oldest form of the Turkic language anywhere to be preserved, I was overwhelmed with emotions.

Upon reaching the Bilge Khagan Inscription, we saw a small group of people pacing the site, which was surprising after hearing that the site is usually empty. After visiting the monument and capturing my desired footage, I struck up a conversation with one of the gentlemen from the surprise group. He turned out to be an archaeologist and expert on those very monuments. During our conversation, I found out that these archaeologists had made a new discovery, and that digging had begun again at a nearby site. I was thrilled to learn about the discovery related to the grave of Kutluk Khagan who is the father of Bilge Khagan and Kultigin, as well as being the founder of second Gokturk Empire.

At that moment I was overwhelmed with Turkish pride. I connected with officials from the Mongolian Government regarding this discovery and was surprised to learn that Turkish archaeologists were not involved. I began to reach out to my homeland of Turkey, connecting with professors and government officials to find a meaningful way to inform my country. I decided to cut my Mongolia trip short so I could move faster to bring the details of this discovery home.

We left the site for Ulaanbataar, stopping only to meet with a nomadic family to join them for some Kimiz, which from them which is an alcoholic beverage that is made of horse milk. Kimiz is taught to us as a traditional Turkish drink, and the connections between Mongolia and Turkey crystalized in my mind. I was very fortunate to taste it at the home of nomadic herder family’s ger, near the site of our old king, Bilge Khagan.

After endless hours driving through Mongolia, we came to my hotel in Ulaanbataar for my last night before leaving Mongolia. In my last 12 hours, I got footage from Buddha statues, Chinggis Khaan statues, witnessed a shamanic ritual, and explored a historical recreation of a 13th-century ger camp.

Mongolia is an incredibly meaningful experience full of authenticity, beautiful nature and gorgeous monuments. I came to Mongolia to build a game about the empire of Chinggis Khaan but left building a game about the history of Turks.

Once a Turk, always a Turk.

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