This little village in the Pontic Mountains along Turkey’s Black Sea coast looks like any other countless villages in the mountains but this is a unique village where the people of the village have a very special way of communicating with each other.
Kuskoy or Bird Village as it’s known has roughly a little over 500 residents and for years they have been communicating in a language aka whistling called kuş dili which means bird language in Turkish. Even though there is not much to see around here in this village, It is these very sounds that make this village different from all the others and makes it worth visiting.
Image Credit: orduyenihaber.com
This method of communicating by whistling is based on Turkish, and each sound represents a syllable. Consonants are distinguished by changes in pitch over different intervals of time.The people can have entire conversations by whistling! Isn’t that interesting? It was first introduced by shepherds and it is said sometimes the birds understand them too!
They even have a Bird Language Festival where people are awarded with the best whistler award. The festival attracts people from all over the region and the world too.Besides whistling, they also showcase their local folk dances.
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However, sadly this method of communication is slowly dying thanks to modernization and cell phones. Unesco has also recently accepted the bird language of Black Sea villagers as an endangered part of world heritage in need of urgent protection.
How to get there
By Air the airports near Kuskoy Trabzon International Airport is 15 kilometers away from Kuskoy. Salyazı Airport is 73 kilometers away from Kuskoy. One can take a bus from there.
How about visiting Kuskoy to learn this unique language?
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