Siirt

Siirt gets a not particularly honourable mention in this article about meandering in the south-east by dolmu ^[1]ş ^[1].

I didn’t take any photos there. This exerpt from the article hints at why:

I walked around Siirt for a while. It seemd to fulfil all of the expected functions of a town – market, transport hub, services, government offices – without having anything distinctive. I had a kebap and went to the dolmuş station.

“What should I see before I leave Siirt?” I asked a group of çay-drinking men.

“Have you been to Batman?”

I nodded.

“Hasankeyf?”

“Yes. What about in Siirt itself?”

A man who looked like (and probably was) a commando scratched his impressive nose and regarded me.

“And what do you think of our city?”

“It’s very nice. It has…” I searched my memory for something that was distinctive. “…a nice market,” I finished lamely.

“Siirt is a very historic city.” He nodded wisely.

“Is it?” Here it was. Siirt’s hidden secret.

“Yes. There is a statue of Atatürk. And at the other end of the main street, there is…” he looked impressively around at the rest of the group. “…another statue.”

The group of men turned to look at me seriously. Then they all burst out laughing and told me which dolmuş to catch to get out of there.

^[2]