The increasing rate of urban migration from villages to cities in Turkey, particularly during the last quarter of the 20th century, has swept aside the customs and traditions of centuries. The process of radical change can be observed everywhere, from architecture to clothing and artefacts to the habits of daily life. Traditional crafts have either disappeared or altered beyond recognition. The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts launched plans to establish an ethnographic collection in the 1970s, aware that collecting articles of all kinds used in daily life should begin before it was too late. The Ethnographic Section could not be opened to the public, however, until 1983, when the museum moved to Ibrahim Pasa Palace and room became available to exhibit the collection.

Ethnographic items gathered from many parts of Turkey are today exhibited in tableaux that illustrate the ways of life to which they belong. Visitors are introduced to nomadic, village and town life, together with carpet and kilim looms, the materials used to make natural dyes and the techniques employed, examples of woven artefacts and embroidery, costumes, household articles, handcrafts, nomadic tents, harnesses and much more. A tent of the type known as topakev, which could still be seen until recent years in the district of Emirdag in Afyon, and were used for over a thousand years by both Turks and Mongols, is among the exhibits. Such domed tents made of felt over a wooden frame were waterproof, warm in winter and cool in summer. The frame consists of a circular ring supporting the dome, a central post on which it rests, and the derim or drum-shaped section which is constructed to collapse with a scissor action for easy transportation.

All the famly'sg possessions are kept in sacks woven with lengthwise patterns which double as cushions against which guests can lean their backs. The kilims on the floor of the tent are in designs typical of those woven by the Saçikara clan. Carpets, kilims and other types of flatweaves have their origin in pastoral nomadic cultures, and go back thousands of years. Local plants are used as a source of natural dyes, and the motifs and compositions have their roots in very ancient times. Village life is illustrated by the main room removed from a house in the district of Yuntdag in Manisa. The house, which was built of stone, wood and adobe, had been abandoned and was derelict.

The Turkish Coffee House looking out onto the courtyard is a part of the museusar Ethnographic Section. Here are displayed all the original trappings of a traditional coffee house, which was an institution that played an important role in Turkish social life for centuries. To round off your visit to this fascinating museum, stop by here to enjoy a cup of Turkish coffee to the accompaniment of birds singing in the trees and surrounded by the ancient buildings of the 16th century palace.

* Sebahat Gül is curator of the Ethnographic Section of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.