I was very lucky enough to travel through Turkey. The South Western coast of Turkey, from Antalya to Bodrum, is some of the most beautiful Mediterranean sea coa

I was very lucky enough to travel through Turkey. The South Western coast of Turkey, from Antalya to Bodrum, is some of the most beautiful Mediterranean sea coasts in the world. Seriously, take a look at pictures from Fethiye or Kas for example. I'm not expert on the definition of the word "heritage" but my own impression is these countries share more than just a land border and adjacency to the Aegean sea. The people look similar, dress similar, eat extremely similar food, have similar drinks (raki vs. ouzo), live in similar houses. For much of the time I was in that area of Turkey I remember thinking it felt more like Greece than Greece did! This should be no surprise (although it was to me). They have been neighbours for millennia and their cultures have mixed and intertwined with each other longer than the USA has existed. Much of the land between them has switched hands back-and-forth between various empires dating back to Alexander the Great (and beyond). Comparatively, the native peoples of the Americas were culturally isolated for that same length of time until ~500 years ago when Europeans with a completely distinct culture showed up in ships for the first sustained contacts. There is almost no reasonable comparison to be made between the two circumstances.