The history of the carpet is perhaps as old as the history of humanity, and as varied as well with numerous types of carpet gracing numerous civilizations. Carpets and kilims – traditional flat tapestry-woven carpets or rugs – have been the main elements of home decoration in Türkiye and especially in eastern countries for millennia.

It should be noted that kilim and carpet are different from each other, kilim is a thinner carpet type. Another type of carpet is defined as "wall-to-wall" which covers the entire surface it is meant to be laid on.

Carpets are used for a variety of purposes, including insulating a person's feet from a cold tile or concrete floor, making a room more comfortable as a place to sit on the floor, as when playing with children, or as a prayer rug.

Today, a huge range of carpets and rugs are available at many price and quality levels, ranging from inexpensive, synthetic carpets that are mass-produced in factories and used in commercial buildings, to costly hand-knotted wool rugs that are used in private homes and houses.

Of course, although mass-produced and patternless carpets are suitable for the minimalist style of today, old-style carpets, which are a combination of fine craftsmanship and imagination, have always attracted me.

After this brief information, I would like to talk about Turkish carpets and their details.

Turkish carpets, also known as Anatolian carpets, whether hand knotted or flat woven, are among the most well-known and established handcrafted artworks in the world.

A history of religion, culture, environment, politics and economics can be seen in the artistic inspiration of Türkiye's traditional carpets and their dazzling motifs.

Turkish carpets are always handmade of wool or sometimes cotton, with occasional additions of silk.

An example of silk carpets is the Hereke carpet.

The Hereke carpet is a historical type of carpet produced in Hereke, a coastal town of Kocaeli.

The double knot technique is used for this carpet's weaving and it is handmade, which makes it unique from other carpets. These carpets weaved with first-class silk were used as decorations in Ottoman Palaces.

Today, there is a 119 square meter (1,280 square feet) Hereke carpet weighing approximately 1 ton in the Dolmabahçe Palace's Muayede Hall in its restored state.

These carpets are natural barriers against the cold. Turkish pile rugs and kilims are also frequently used as tent decorations, grain bags, camel and donkey bags, ground cushions, oven covers, sofa covers, bed and cushion covers, blankets, curtains, eating blankets, table top spreads, prayer rugs and for ceremonial occasions.

The oldest records of flat woven kilims come from the Çatalhöyük Neolithic site and is estimated to be around 9,000 years old. Çatalhöyük, one of the oldest settlements ever to have been discovered, is located southeast of Konya.

Excavations at the site have discovered carbonized fabric along with fragments of kilims painted on the walls of some of the dwellings.

The majority of them represent geometric and stylized forms that are similar or identical to other historical and contemporary designs.

A pristine example of a carpet type with mesmerizing motifs is the Yağcıbedir carpet.

The Yağcıbedir carpet, which started to be woven in and around Balıkesir's Bigadiç in the western Anatolia region by nomads of the plateaus, is one of the most unique carpets around Türkiye with its most distinctive features being plain motifs and the simplicity of the colors.

The colors of the threads dyed with root dye shine more as the carpets are used.

The knotted rug is believed to have reached the Middle East with the expansion of various nomadic Turkic peoples during the eighth and ninth centuries.

Famously depicted in European paintings during the Renaissance, for centuries, beautiful Anatolian rugs were often used to indicate the high economic and social status of the owner.

Women used to weave carpets and they would learn their weaving skills at an early age, taking months or even years to complete the beautiful pile rugs and flat woven rugs that were created for their use in every aspect of daily life. As is true in most weaving cultures, traditionally and nearly exclusively, it is women and girls who are both artisan and weaver.

Today, carpet weaving continues in its traditional structure in Türkiye and the methodology honoring the long history of carpet weaving is taught across the country in special courses and centers, particularly in an effort to provide employment to – though not exclusively – Anatolian women.

Carpets showcase characteristic differences depending on the conditions of the region and ethnographic features.

As such, it is possible to take up the Turkish carpet weaving in four main lines.

The first is the Hereke carpets, which are the continuation of the Ottoman Palace carpets. The second is the commercial workshop carpets designed in the understanding of western patterns like Isparta, Bünyan and Sivas carpets.

The third is the workshop production of local carpet types including Gördes, Kula, Bergama, Yahyalı, Kırşehir, Mucur, Ladik, Ayvacık, Milas and Yağcıbedir, and many more. The fourth is the local carpets woven by the people for their own needs, in the form of carpets woven almost everywhere in Türkiye from Denizli's Çal, Adıyaman's Pişnik, to Kahta and Besni of Ağrı, Kars, Erzurum, Şanlıurfa and Gaziantep.

Today, with the possibilities of modern technology, the carpet industry is constantly renewing itself and a wide variety of carpets are produced according to needs. However, nostalgic and hand-woven carpets are always popular.

It is an art much more than a product created to cover a need, and its weavers are artists.

Handicraft and artistry are valuable in this geography, so most things are created for the benefit of people and those that can dream.

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you one of the best wishes of the Turks. A phrase that we Turks often fall back on to express our appreciation for artistry and handicraft, be it a beautiful woven carpet, a mesmerizingly written poem, or a deliciously prepared meal. "Ellerinize sağlık," which translates to "May your hands be healthy." We use it to convey the meaning that "This thing you made with your hands is very nice, so I wish your hands to always be healthy so that you can keep doing what you are doing."

So, to all the carpet weavers of Türkiye: Ellerinize sağlık.