Captivated by Kashmir’s beautiful locales, a Turkish professor and writer will be creating awareness about the Valley among his countrymen.
Prof Orhan Kurnal, who is currently on a visit to Kashmir, is a professor of mining at the Istanbul Technical University and has travelled to 174 countries so far.
“It is my first visit to Kashmir and I am mesmerised by the beauty of this place,” said Kurnal who is working on a book on tourist destinations in India. Kashmir will have special mention in the book, he said.
“Turkish people would love to come to Kashmir as there is certain connection with two places having Muslim population. I was astonished to find out that a large number of Turkish people come to India but don’t visit this place,” he said.
Not security concerns but lack of awareness keeps the Turks away from Kashmir, he added.
Prof Kurnal is also a producer of Lutfen, a talk show broadcasted in Turkey. “I would also promote Kashmir in my show.”
While he has plans for promoting Kashmir in his homeland, he has some advice for policymakers in Kashmir.
“In Turkey we made a mistake by converting our country into a concrete jungle. I would suggest policymakers in Kashmir that they should not allow huge concrete structures. They should rather focus on preservation of traditional architecture and houseboats as tourism would get attracted by traditional structures not concrete structures,” he added.
He also calls for implementing the ban on polythene and plastic, the sight of which at Dal Lake has “appalled him.”
Prof Kurnal has been travelling since his high school years. He has been lecturing in courses on “mining and environment”, ” coal technology” and “statistics”. He has visited 174 countries in all five continents and has been on news in different television channels and radio stations of these countries.
Prof Kurnal has written hundreds of articles regarding his trips. They have been published in many magazines and newspapers all over the world. He has been producing TV and radio shows for the past seven years and written travel articles for many important magazines and newspapers.