This was my first book. Three years ago, stranded in an Ivy League Campus with freezing temperatures, a bleak social life and a sulprus of free time, I began researching and illustrating various creatures from the composite mythologies of Turkey. As the drawings began to increase in number and depth, I smelled a book project immediately. Inspired by the success of Borges and Barlowe's Guides, I imagined that such a book would do quite well back home. Another year passed with research, sketches, illustrations, text and translation. Finally, "Imaginary Creatures from Turkish History" came out on May 2004. For the local market, it sold quite well. So well, in fact, that its illustrations went on to two exhibition projects.

However, I wasn't exactly satisfied with the presentation of the book, which I had written originally in English for an international audience. It was translated back and forth several times, and the end the English content was relegated to a small appendix at the back of the book. So now I'm "re-releasing" this work on the internet, making its content accessible to all. Of course, any foreign publishers wanting to pick up the title (I reserve the international rights) are more than welcome.

This project aims to show a selection of fantastical creatures that populate the culture of today's Turkey. It is divided into three separate sections, since Turkish culture is actually a fusion of old Turkic, Islamic and modern mythologies. Each of these separate folklores contributed their own blend of strange and wonderful beings, resulting in an imaginary fauna like none other.

Roll over the header to see a complete listing of Imaginary Beings.