MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
When you think about tulips - other than maybe for your own front yard - the Netherlands might come to mind, but they were first imported to Western Europe from what is now Turkey, where they were cultivated and treasured as a symbol of the divine. Every April, Istanbul plants more than 3 million tulip bulbs in the city's parks. Durrie Bouscaren went out to take a look.
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DURRIE BOUSCAREN: Maybe the best part of Istanbul's Tulip Festival is realizing just how many types of tulips there are in the world. There are carpets of pink, yellow and white, big red blooms the size of softballs, soft purple tulips with tapered petals etched in white, and a smattering of hyacinths and daffodils, just because.
ELVAN KANIT: (Speaking Turkish).
BOUSCAREN: "They're all so beautiful," says Elvan Kanit (ph).
She lives nearby and comes often during the month of April just to sit.
KANIT: (Speaking Turkish).
BOUSCAREN: "It's like heaven," she tells me.
The Tulip Festival is Istanbul's annual reminder that while the Netherlands might be famous for its tulips, the flowers are originally from Central Asia, and there's pride in that, Kanit says. During the Ottoman Empire...
KANIT: (Speaking Turkish).
BOUSCAREN: ...They were as valuable as gold.
ASLI ILGUN ERTABAK: (Speaking Turkish).
BOUSCAREN: Asli Ilgun Ertabak is director of Emirgan Park. The tall trees, meandering pathways and historic mansions sit on a hill overlooking the Bosphorus Strait. It's perhaps the best known destination for Istanbul's Tulip Festival.
ERTABAK: (Speaking Turkish).
BOUSCAREN: She tells me that city workers have planted 1 1/2 million tulip bulbs in this park alone, trucked in from the central Turkish city of Konya.
ERTABAK: (Speaking Turkish).
BOUSCAREN: "As the story goes," Ertabak says, "centuries ago, Turkish women carried tulip bulbs with them when they migrated from Central Asia to Anatolia. Sometimes they would tuck a bloom into their scarf."
ERTABAK: (Speaking Turkish).
BOUSCAREN: "They planted tulips in their gardens, in pots by the windows of their homes," Ertabak says.
And for centuries, tulips were cultivated and widely traded in the Seljuk, Persian and Ottoman Empires. They carried religious symbolism for Sufis, who practice a form of Islamic mysticism that seeks a direct relationship with God.
ERTABAK: (Speaking Turkish).
BOUSCAREN: Ertabak says, "the tulip represented unity and the consciousness that we are all one."
In Iran, the tulip symbolized martyrdom and was later incorporated into the design of the flag. But Ottoman royals particularly favored a tulip variety with long, almost dagger-like petals. Its elongated silhouette now decorates Istanbul's subway stations, public buildings, even the airplanes that fly for Turkish Airlines.
ERTABAK: (Speaking Turkish).
BOUSCAREN: "The tulip is a plant that holds a special place in Turkish culture," Ertabak says, "and it's one that we particularly love."
For NPR News, I'm Durrie Bouscaren in Istanbul.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEVENDRA BANHART'S "THE BALLAD OF KEENAN MILTON") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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