Turkey: Sunlight gives hand-woven carpets pastel colors

By Süleyman Elcin and Orhan Cicek

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - Hand-woven carpets lying in fields for sterilization and gaining their pastel colors in the sun create colorful images in Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya.

As the summer kicks, carpet makers start working in hundreds of acres of agricultural land right after harvest in Dosemealti district, which is famous for its hand-made carpets produced by using root paint obtained from plants.

Internationally renowned Turkish carpets and rugs, symbolizing power, wealth, love and family unity with the motifs of the weaver, are brought to Dosemealti from various regions of the country.

The carpets are collected from villages, especially from elderly people and they are firstly repaired, Halil Borekci, a carpet maker in Antalya, told Anadolu Agency.

“We keep carpets in the sun to get rid of everything except organic root dye and wool,” he said and added: “The carpets soften as they expose to sunlight during the day and moisture at night and all the dirt as well as added paint come out of the carpet.”

Halil Borekci said tourists prefer carpets with organic root dye, adding that mostly Americans and Australians show interest to the carpets.

Around 10,000 carpets are antiquated in a year, he added.

Carpets with historical value also take place in the fields, another carpet maker Zeynep Borekci said for her part.

“We do our best to prevent hand-woven carpets,” she added.

Photographers, visual artists and enthusiasts visit the fields to shoot films and images.

*Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur