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the interior of Hagia Sophia, which once was a mosque and is open to public as a museum.

In late November last year, I visited Turkey and had a chance to see some of the main attractions in Istanbul. It felt as if I walked into a world history book: before my eyes stood historical sites and buildings, including the Walls of Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Dolmabahçe Palace, Yerebatan Sarayı (or Basilica Cistern), Bosphorus Strait, and stone statues of Hittite and Mesopotamia. "Wow, this is what a truly global empire looks like," I thought. At the same time, I felt that Korea's five thousand years of history still might pale in comparison to Turkey – where the East met the West and created a very unique and dynamic culture and history. It felt completely different from the faint traces of Western civilization in Far East, which is at the opposite end of the world.

Isn't it strange? We have China, another ancient empire, as our neighbor, and the Tiananmen and the Great Wall did not leave much of an impression in my mind. Then what is so attractive about Turkey? Perhaps it is because Chinese relics are familiar to us, and maybe, because unlike China, Turkey and its history do not have any direct conflict of interests with me and Korea. The two countries have not fought against each other, and their glory has not led to our despair.

It did not bother me whether the Turks had stolen numerous relief carvings and magnificent statues of Zeus, Aphrodite and Apollo from the Greeks and Romans and displayed them in the Istanbul Archeology Museums. Nor did it break my heart that the beautiful marble columns from sacred Greek and Roman temples were relocated to build a mere cistern that provided water for the Muslims. To me, it felt like all of these events happened in a remote, distant place.

Istanbul – A City of Ancient History and Culture

The relationship between Korea and Turkey dates back to over a thousand years when Koguryo sent envoys to Dolgwol – an ancient name of Turkey in Korean – to form an alliance with it ahead of the wars with the Sui and the Tang. In addition, both Turkish and Korean languages are part of the Ural-Altaic language family. Like many other Asian countries, however, Korea was forced to be subservient to China in ancient and medieval history, and the two countries even fought against each other several times. Perhaps that is why I cannot appreciate the beauty of Chinese relics as they are while I can fully enjoy the magnificent relics and artifacts in Istanbul.

Imperial eras, whether it is Chinese or Turk, share one thing in common – embracing diversity. When Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople, he allowed his troops to plunder the city for three days, in accordance with ancient Muslim military tradition. He regretted bitterly afterwards, however, realizing that it was foolish to destroy this beautiful city with rich cultural heritage of the Byzantine Empire. After that, the Ottoman Turk Empire embraced people of different religions or races, even Christianity. Thanks to its spirit of embrace, the 1700-year-old city of Istanbul remains a vibrant and dynamic place where different people thrive together. This can be applied to the Tang and Yuan dynasties: embracing people of different races and cultures was the best policy for the empires to achieve unity and prosperity.

The truly valuable we can learn from the Ottoman and several Chinese empires would be the spirit of embrace and respect towards people of other races, faiths and cultures, rather than the huge sizes of relics and their beauty. It is a value that is desperately needed in Korea, which is moving toward a more diverse and multicultural society.

Turkish people see Korea as their brother nation and love Koreans. In today's harsh age, I feel that it is indeed amazing and pleasant to be loved by some group of people unconditionally. Perhaps Turkish and Korean people feel affection toward each other because we all share the same blood of nomads.