12 April 2016•Update: 22 April 2016
By Humeyra Atilgan Buyukovali
ISTANBUL
Istanbulites are welcoming the spring with millions of flamboyant tulips – a long-established symbol of this historic city.
This year some 20 million flowers were planted across the city as part of the ‘11th Tulip Festival’ which started on Sunday.
April is traditionally tulip time in Turkey’s largest city.
Visitors have seen spectacular views of specially arranged tulips at historic parks of Emirgan, Gulhane and Yildiz on the city's European side, as well as the parks of Fethipasa, Beykoz and Camlica on the Asian side.
Some 190 species of tulips are planted at Emirgan alone, which is normally home to plants of more than 120 varieties.
Those who prefer to visit the Ottoman-era Gulhane Park will be very close to the historic Sultanahmet Square, where the world's largest carpet of tulips is on display.
The 1,728-square-meter carpet is made up of 563,000 live tulips in the pattern of a traditional Turkish rug.
It is not only the large gardens with millions of tulips, but also the tulip-themed activities across the city which can be enjoyed until the end of April.
Among them are the exhibitions of tulip-themed paintings and traditional Islamic arts, a photo contest for the most beautiful tulip and concerts by local groups.
Tulip-lovers will also have a chance to buy seeds at temporarily established selling points.
The first such tulip festival was held in the city in 2006, with a slogan ‘Tulips return home’.
The slogan was suggesting that the homeland of tulips has always been Anatolia - not Holland although they are mostly associated with the Western country.
It is believed that tulips were taken to Holland from the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th century.
"The tulip is from Istanbul," Mayor Kadir Topbas said in this year's festival message. "It is an invariable part of Turkish culture."
Ottomans had over 1,500 tulip species, he said.
Today, although Holland has cornered the market in terms of both the production and export of tulips, Turkey is also exporting and producing around 50,000,000 seeds per year.
The target is to reach two million seeds in a decade.
The Istanbul Tulip Museum and Research Center, opened in 2013, has been carrying out work to make Turkey the leading country in the sector.
Meanwhile, the annual festival revives memories of tulip gardens in Ottoman times, offering people a good reason to get out of the house on a beautiful spring day.
