Around 180 kilometres west of Kiziltepe, in the South Eastern Anatolian region, are the ancient old cities of Sanliurfa. Both the Bible and the Quran claim that Abraham was born there before going to Canaan, modern-day Palestine. The local Muslim myth differs from that of the other great monotheistic faiths due to the intervention of one spiteful and evil King Nimrod, who had Abraham launched from the city’s castle and land into a pile of flaming wood. Thankfully, God stepped in and turned the flames into water and the faggots into fish. Visitors can now enter Abraham’s Cave, the complex of mosques surrounding it, and the Pool of Sacred Fish.
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The capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, hosted the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s 11th Anniversary Ceremony in June. Anlurfa has completed preparations to serve as the tourism capital of Islamic nations in 2023, as decided by the Tourism Ministers’ Conference. The anlurfa Metropolitan Municipality’s Zeynel Abidin Beyazgül, who supplied information about the study, forecasted that tourism would peak in 2023. Zeynel Abidin Beyazgül, the mayor of the metropolis, said:
“Şanlıurfa is a city accepted all over the world with its historical, touristic and cultural values. Nevali Çori, Sefertepe, Göbeklitepe, Karahantepe and many of our historical and cultural values that cannot be counted here have made Şanlıurfa the center of attention of the world. All these discoveries were instrumental in rewriting the known history of the world. Now, we, who have such a deep-rooted wealth, have of course been working intensively with our teams on how we can better promote these values in Turkey and in the world.”
Anlurfa, the most populated city in Turkey, has been selected as the Islamic world’s tourism centre for the year 2023, according to Beyazgül, who stated that their efforts have paid off. Our city is already benefiting from the flood of domestic and foreign tourists, as seen by the occupancy rates in the hotels. For both local and foreign visitors to see and enjoy the many natural wonders of anlurfa that are just waiting to be discovered, we are making various preparations in this regard. To put it briefly, we provide logistical support for the archaeological study being conducted in our city.