Demolition and Construction

• turkey = .tr, Türkei, Turquía, Turquie, Turquia, Turchia

Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli is a famous 13th century Islamic mystic, philosopher and dervish. His tomb and monastery are in the town of Hacibektaş, which is named after him. Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli was born and educated in Khorasan (north-east Iran); he was the grandson of Sheik Ahmet. After his pilgrimage to Mecca, he travelled around the middle east, finally coming to Anatolia in a period of political and economic turmoil. Wishing to help restore unity he settled here and developed and taught his own approach to being a pure Moslem. This approach was based on four tenets: love of God (the only way to attain maturity and peace); focus on substance rather than on the superficial (e.g. God does not see your actions, he sees your intentions); love and unity among people (the only things that illuminate your way are devine and human love); and the power of sanctity (you should seek God within, not externally). He particularly taught tolerance and equality for all through love, and at it's heart his philosophy incorporates the same substance as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Through the work of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli unity was restored to the Turks of Anatolia, and the Turkish language became the language of scholarship and law (instead of Arabic or Persian).
The interior of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli's tomb chamber is an interesting shape. At the bottom the room is square; higher up it is octagonal; and at the top there is a circular dome. This is essentially the same shape as the Pharos, the ancient lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt. I've seen this shape in other places too, but I don't know whether the Pharos was the original use of this shape, or whether the shape is older than that. I'm certain that there must be some meaning behind the shape, but I'm afraid I don't know it.

• koala = Phascolarctos cinereus, kue-la