The Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) has decided to finalize a project to protect the 8th century Orkhon inscriptions, the first in which the word "Turk" appears and in which the first signs of Turkish culture and language appear. The lace-like inscriptions, carved onto stone and marble, are considered to be the beginning of the Turkish family tree.
In order to accelerate the project TIKA will organize a working meeting in Istanbul in April in which more than 70 scientists from all over the world, and particularly from Turkey and Mongolia, will participate. In an exclusive interview TIKA's new president, Oner Kabasakal, said that they were planning to start the restoration works following the Istanbul meeting. "It is known there are three inscriptions in different areas, namely the Kul Tegin, Bilge Khagan and Tonyukuk monuments. We are planning to establish a tent city around the monuments in which the scientists will be able to stay and work efficiently. Before that we want to construct a road in order to reach the monument easily. Our objective is firstly to protect the monuments against the elements. If we are able to realize this project then we will start to excavate around the monuments. We believe that we will make many new historical discoveries that can shed new light on Turkish history. All the costs of the project will be met by TIKA," said Kabasakal.
When President Suleyman Demirel paid a visit to Mongolia in 1995, an unwritten agreement was reached between the two countries with the aim of protecting the Orkhon inscriptions, restoring them, exhibiting them in a museum and opening them up to tourism. As a result, the Turkish Monuments in Mongolia Project (MOTAP) was set up to protect the inscriptions. Subsequently TIKA was given the mandate to restore the inscriptions, and a technical protocol was signed between the Turkish and Mongolian authorities. After a delegation from TIKA paid a visit to the region, a master plan was formulated for the protection works. According to this plan, preparing maps, defining the protection areas, archaeological excavations and restoration, the building of the museum and preparing a documentary about it all were agreed upon. The budget of the project is about $20 million.
After the discovery of the Kul-Tegin and Bilge Khagan monuments in July 1889, the inscriptions came to prominence thanks to the simultaneous work on deciphering them by Wilhelm Radloff, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Wilhelm Ludwig Thomson, of the Danish Royal Academy. Since then there have been radical changes in the theories of the origins of the Turkish language.
The Orkhon inscriptions are back on the Turkish agenda. TIKA's intention is to restore and protect them from partial break up and cracking in Mongolia's vast local temperature variations, rain and icy climate. The inscriptions have never been protected and are particularly vulnerable to erosion. Some of them have even lost their original shape due to animals constantly rubbing against them. The Kul Tegin Khagan monument was erected in his memory in 732 by his brother Bilge Khagan. There are 66 lines in 13 columns on all three faces of the 375-centimeter high monument, in the Gokturk alphabet. Bilge Khagan is about one kilometer south of Kul Tegin. This inscription was erected in his father's memory by Tenri Khan, Bilge Khan's younger son, in 735 AD. Bilge Tonyukuk is 360 kilometers away from the other two inscriptions, beside the Tola River. These challenging inscriptions include historical details concerning Turkish rulers and commanders, from both their own periods and their predecessor's reigns. Historical details, with all their positive and negative sides, were carved in stone as a message to the future.
According to the inscription Bilge Khagan's reign, from 716 to 734, was beset by economic problems: "I (Bilge) did not reign over a people that was rich, I reigned over a people weak and frightened, a people that had no food in their bellies and no clothes on their backs. To preserve the reputation achieved by our father, for the sake of the Turk people, I spent the nights without sleep and the days without rest. When I became khagan, the people who had dispersed to different countries returned, at the point of death, on foot and naked. To reestablish the nation, I led twenty-two campaigns. And because of good fortune and propitious circumstances, I brought back to life the dying people, the naked people I clothed and the few I made numerous."
In another example, in the Orkhon inscriptions Elterish's son speaks glowingly of his father's deeds: "My father the khagan set out with 27 men, and as word got around that he was advancing, those who were in the towns and those who were in the mountains gathered, and there were 77 men. Because Heaven gave them strength, the army of my father resembled wolves and his enemies resembled sheep. Leading campaigns to the east as to the west, he gathered the people and made them rise up. And altogether they numbered 700. He lead 47 campaigns and fought in 20 battles. And because Heaven was favorable towards him, he deprived of their empire those who had an empire; he deprived them of their khagan; he pacified his enemies and made them bend their knees and bow their heads"
The restoration of the tomb of Khodzha Akhmed Jazavi, the sufi poet and preacher who lived and was buried in the city of Turkestan (Yesi) in Kazakhstan in the 12th century, is another of TIKA's important projects.
Oner Kabasakal indicated that they were planning to complete this project by September 2000 and if they are able to finalize the project, they will held an opening ceremony which will coincide with the 1,500th anniversary of the founding of the city of Turkestan. Kabasakal added that the total cost of the project was $18 million and would be financed by TIKA's own resources.
As a third significant project the small and medium-sized enterprises (KOBI) project aims to develop KOBIs in central Asian countries. TIKA will organize a seminar in the near future in Istanbul to improve KOBIs and investments on KOBIs in these republics." We see that these former Soviet republics have some difficulties in changing over to a market economy. So we want to help these countries and KOBIs are the main units of the market economy," said Kabasakal Restructuring TIKA Following a Prime Ministry decree, TIKA, previously affiliated to the Foreign Ministry, was placed under the jurisdiction of the Prime Ministry. A draft resolution regarding this change has been presented to Cabinet members for signature before being sent to the president for approval. Now, TIKA will continue operations under the direction of State Minister Abdulhaluk Cay.
TIKA's reorganization has already begun. Omer Kabasakal, a former State Planning Organization (DPT) expert and advisor to the Prime Ministry, has been appointed the organization's new president. He said that he would, as his first priority, start projects such as the Orkhon monuments, but if they were able to find new revenue sources, they would initiate new projects. Kabasakal told the Turkish Daily News that TIKA's staff was to be increased and a legal advisory board established within the framework of the reorganization. Regarding TIKA's budget, revenue sources are expected to be diversified and a structure established within the organization to pave the way for donation collection in order to increase revenue.