When I was stationed in Turkey, I went on a trip to see Özkonak, which is a similar underground city. Living in a country where almost nothing man-made is more than a couple hundred years old, it's wild to see a whole underground city made by human hands thousands of years go. And that these were necessary only because semi-regular invasions were basically a fact of life back then.
I'm no historian, but looking at a map, Turkey seems geographically prone to getting trampled over and over.
It's basically the hub that connects Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia together. If someone builds an empire in any of those areas and tries to expand to another one, they're going to want to control the territory that connects them. Even if they don't want Turkey for its own sake, it's a stepping stone.
In other words, if you want to not get invaded, it really helps to be off in a corner that's not on anybody's way from anything to anything. Turkey is the opposite.
I don't know if that is necessarily the case. I'm from eastern Turkey and my DNA results showed mostly Iranian and Armenian ethnicity. I'd assume, a place that was constantly trampled would have a little more variety, especially considering the last time the Persian or Armenian empires controlled the city I'm from (Malatya) was thousands of years ago.
It's valuable real estate but not so easy to conquer. Probably because of the mountains. When the Arab's were on a role, they couldn't get too far into Turkey, same with Tamerlane, as well as many other invaders throughout history.
My father, a Turk, has a couple of close Armenian friends from Arapkir, a county of Malatya, from his childhood right after WWII. Going back 30-40 years before that period, Armenians were the majority ethnic population in many counties of eastern Turkish cities. Not sure about Persians, but having an Armenian connection in a big chunk of your DNA if you're from the area shouldn't be that surprising.
Fun fact. Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, has Malatya and Arabkir districts.
> I'm from eastern Turkey and my DNA results showed mostly Iranian and Armenian ethnicity. I'd assume, a place that was constantly trampled would have a little more variety
Historically, being "conquered/trampled" didn't mean genetic displacement or even mixing. Especially if an established and stable population already existed there. It just meant the masses had a new master. The mongols conquered china but china is still chinese. The arabs conquered iran but iran's still iranian. The brits conquered india but india is still indian.
> especially considering the last time the Persian or Armenian empires controlled the city I'm from (Malatya) was thousands of years ago.
But turks don't speak persian or armenian. They speak turkish. They don't use armenian script but used arabic alphabet previously and now the latin alphabet. Turks aren't christian or zoroastrian or buddhist, but are muslim.
A predominantly genetic iranian/armenian population that speaks turkish, is muslim and uses the latin alphabet. That's pretty diverse.
Eastern Turkey is remarkably hard country and lowly inhabited. That natural geographical border is probably why that has been a political border frontier of many past and present states for probably 3000+ straight years.
1190s is still pretty modern when the Turkish construction is believed to be from 700-2000 BCE, and the commenters words "almost nothing" are spot on for the U.S.
I grew up near a castle not much younger than Mesa Verde and a church that was mostly built in the 1400s and they were just regular buildings around town. I had a friend who lived in a 600 year old building with meter-thick stone walls. A cafe had glass floor under which you could see preserved medieval city streets, with coins etc left as found.
USA has gorgeous old nature with amazing stories to tell (I've found dinosaur footprints on a hike! I've watched clouds gather below me in the Grand Canyon! I've seen some of the largest trees in the world!), but human history just ain't one of its strong suites.
> it's wild to see a whole underground city made by human hands thousands of years go.
Fun fact: those cities buried in hills on the plain are called "tells".
They're called "tells" because, thousands and thousands of years ago when Mesopotamia spoke Old Akkadian, they were called "tells". The concept was old then.
> And that these were necessary only because semi-regular invasions were basically a fact of life back then.
I remember my Turkish guide proudly saying that these dwellings have not been settled for centuries "because we were never invaded again so we don't need to hide here anymore".
Or it could be a conduit to conquer anyone and everyone because you are at the crossroads of the world. And benefit from trade that happens because of it.
