Talk:Turku

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[edit] older comments

About History: Why should Turku be named Turku before it was officially named Turku, During the Swedish reign it should be named Åbo I think. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.231.0.70 (talk • contribs) 14:26, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

That's the Swedish version of its name. In Finnish the city's name is (and has always been) Turku. - ulayiti (talk) 09:38, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
That's true also, but before 1930's the city was universally known as "Åbo", even in English. This is a similar question as the Danzig vs. Gdansk fight, both names are ~1000 years old and both have been official. Now in Poland there's only Polish names that are official, but in Finland both Turku and Åbo are official. Actually I don't see any good point, why the norm for the "international city names" of Finland was changed just before WWII, and in my personal texts I use Swedish names for every name in "Svenskfinland" and for old Finnish towns founding during Swedish era, even if they are unilingually Finnish. At least in historical context should this be used, such as in the article of Treaty of Fredrikshamn. Ultrix 09:17, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
Your conduct seems unneutral. Perhaps you should read the naming conventions regarding Finland proposed by the UN. Still existing things - such as towns or cities - should be named according to the existing demographic realities in a foreign language. Things that no longer exist - such as an old peace treaty - can be named according to the usage in its own time. Compare this with naming conventions in Ireland, Switzerland or Belgium. Finland's naming conventions should not make any exceptions. The fact that a city was previously only dealt with in one language on paper does not necessarily mean that the citys name in this language was its historical name. It may have been just a political reality not a historical one. Clarifer 08:17, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
We are talking about a city that has no confirmed birth date or original name. There is no way to prove which is wrong or right. --jertique I 23:32, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I was thinking, that there should be some mentioning about the nature of Turku sub-region in text. Because it is so different from other Finland when Turku shares very small area with its close neighbors. Even Tampere is considered as larger city, Turku actually has more people within same reach from the center, because the major population in neighboring cities are living about under 10km reach from city center and that makes lot more than in Tampere. I think this is important note!--jertique I 00:12, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Another note! On Helsinki's wikipedia page unlike Turku's wikipedia page is population of Urban and Metro taken as population of "The Capital Region" and population of "Helsinki Region" therefore also Turku's wikipedia page should be edited in such way, meaning that urban area is same as "Turun kaupunkiseutu" cityregion and Metro area is same as "Turku Region". It cannot be correct in the way it is now! And there is another confusion between articles. In which thing is sub-region refering to? Is it Urban Region or more like Metro area? E.g. on the page of Turku and one of Raisio sub-region names are typed differently, why? --jertique I (talk) 13:00, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Okay. I edited the page according to the way that Helsinki's page has been done. I used numbers as of 2007. According to Varsinais-Suomen Liitto, in Turun Kaupunkiseutu similar meaning with Greater Helsinki includes following municipals areas: Naantali, Raisio, Turku, Kaarina, Rusko, Piikkiö and Paimio. And seems like sub-region is refering to this area. So there are still strong confusion between different articles. --jertique I (talk) 13:20, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
Now I found even better definition. It was on finnish wikipedia page and it says that in some cases "Turun kaupunkiseutu" consist of Turku, Naantali, Raisio and Kaarina which I think fits best in term "an urban area".--jertique I (talk) 15:10, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Åbo Underrättelser a major newspaper?

Åbo Underrättelser, published in Turku, is one of Finland's two major Swedish-language newspapers (together with the Helsinki-based Hufvudstadsbladet).

This seems like a bit of an overstatement. ÅU has a circulation of 7,037. Vasabladet (25,225), Ålandstidningen (10,542), Jakobstads Tidning (12,137), Västra Nyland (10,851), Borgåbladet (8,282) and Nya Åland (7,234) all have higher circulation than ÅU. The newspaper does deserve inclusion in the article for another reason, though: it's the oldest newspaper in Finland. I'm altering the sentence in question accordingly. NordicStorm 17:17, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Capital?

As far as I know Turku was the capital of Finland only from 1809 to 1812. Before it was indeed the most important city, but that alone doesn't make it the capital. -84.169.106.66 16:25, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

AFAIK it was the capital of Finland until 1812. Finland was a province of Sweden, and Åbo was the provincial capital of Finland during the whole Swedish period. Ultrix 09:17, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
Turku was the capital of Finland until 1812, but it's just a matter of formality and informality. Just by saying that it was significant because it was largest city, is not really specific, because Turku was indeed capital way significant. If this is not pointed out, it is more like to make Helsinki seem better and more righteous capital that it actually is. And I think this is the issue here now. And I won't accept it. I edited article to be more specific. --jertique I (talk) 17:04, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Conan O'Brien

Hey,

Why is there nothing here about Conan O'Brien and the video they sent to invinte him into finland due to it's resemblance to Tarja Halonen?

Because it's pretty unencyclopedic. --TonyM ｷﾀ━( °∀° )━ｯ!! 11:35, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The origin of the name Turku

Hi! I have read the article but I could not find the origin of the name Turku! Where does the name Turku come from? Does it have any historical affiliation with Turks?

According to the Finnish wikipedia article about Turku, the name comes from the ancient Russian word tǔrgǔ, which means "[city] square".--MoRsE 18:14, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
Orginally the Russian word is the same as Finnish "tori", both derived from Norse "torg". --Drieakko 22:09, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
There's a Finnish expression "maailman turuilla", meaning "at the forums/marketplaces of the world" but seeming like meaning "at the Turkus of the world", so it reinforces the etymology given above. JIP | Talk 12:36, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation of Åbo

I'd like to hear comments on the pronunciation of Åbo. It sounds to me very strange, very Danish. Samulili 22:12, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

/o:bu:/ --nlitement [talk] 13:27, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Climate

An anon user removed the January temperature in Turku of -25°C with a rather unhelpful comment "Absolutely wrong." Now, is this supposed to be an average or extreme temperature? As an average, it is very much wrong, I agree. But as an extreme, I am sure it does happen, possibly even colder temperatures once in a while. JIP | Talk 17:26, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Motto?

I removed the motto "Turku - Meri-Suomen keskus (Turku - the center of Sea-Finland)" [1]. I've been around for a while but I have never heard it, nor has Google. In general, mottos are very rare in Finland. Samulili 15:58, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Ive been around for a while aswell and atleast few years ago "Turku - Meri-Suomen keskus" was the official motto of the city. I found this information also in one webpage in google[2]. Jontts
Inpsired by that link, I went through a whole bunch of related and unrelated documents I could find at www.turku.fi and none of them had such motto. If it was in use in 2004, it must've have dropped out after that. Samulili 09:33, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
I contacted the city's commincations centre on this and their answer was that Turku has no official motto, only different slogans used in the context of different target groups. –Zinjixmaggir 12:31, 15 June 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Rivalry Between Cities

"Turku vs. Tampere"-joking, community activities of Tampere University or Tampere's traditional food does not belong in Turku Wikipedia pages. If you wanna advertise this stupidity for some reasons, do it there where it belongs, on Tampere's article or in an article of its own. As citizen of Turku I can assure that "Turku vs. Tampere"-joking is very one sided and Turku is passive side of this "rivalry". "Turku vs. Helsinki" is completely different story in which both sides are active but even then it is not Wikipedia material. Turku is the oldest city of Finland not comedy central. --jertique I (talk) 17:05, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

As another citizen of Turku since birth, I cannot concur with jertique I's statement that the joking is one sided. I would also like to point out that the Finnish Wikipedia covers this subject and finds it appropriate for an article Wikipedia, so much so that the article in the Finnish Wikipedia has a GA status. Samulili (talk) 15:33, 4 May 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Turku was never officially founded?

Turku's beginning is not clear. Is very wrong to claim any date for foundation, because there is no proof of any kind of foundation order. All glues are tied to the earlies existing religious documents related to Turku, even the sea port of Turku has existed longer and can be found in same documents of Al Idrisi, 1154 than city of Tallin which has specified its own age according that document. Age of Turku isn't fully confirmed until the first village using river Aura and its mouth as a sea port has been discovered. Most likely Turku is at least 854 years old city like Tallin is. --jertique I (talk) 17:01, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Do you have a reliable source for 1154? Samulili (talk) 16:20, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
How about Al-idiris work it self? How do I use it as a source huh? What is the reliable source for Turku not existing, just because "Turku" was not mentioned when the cross was moved from Nousiainen to Koroinen. It's just a mere guess. In article of the Port of Turku there is mentioning about Al-Idrisi's documents too. And if Tallin#History is located on map by wikipedia first time according to Al-Idrisi, should we remove that? Is there reliable sources maybe? And if there is, why can't we use those? If this is really an issue of missing sources, you as an effcient fellow could put some effort to find them, because the age of Turku is not a simple matter, even though the compact village as it is now could been formated after religious invasion, there sure has been international activity long before that in some villages near the river Aura as some ancient tomb findings has proven. This's the source used for Tallin [3]. Do you really think that it is more reliable than the website[4] I used? --jertique I (talk) 13:47, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
Does Al-Idrisi mention port of Turku? According to this professor (Finnish), it doesn't. I think that it is impossible to find sources that prove that Turku was founded or existed in 1154 because archaelogical findings contradict such a claim. What they do show, however, that the region has been inhabited since several millenia but that is hardly what defines the age of Turku. Samulili (talk) 07:56, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
Well, point is, that if Wikipedia tells something about earliest known age considering Turku, reader understand is as an absolute fact. And I think it is important reader to comprehend that the region of "Turku" has been continuously active long before founded age. It doesn't matter where the actual village or mere habitation has been, but if it is marked on the map, whatever it name was back then, it must been related to sea port activity and market activity or it wouldn't been on the map. Two names of Turku, first means market square and Aboa "habitation alongside the river/water". "Turku" was like that before it was "founded" as Al Idrisi proves (being on the map means significance as port or market, probably both since one is not possible without other). So the reason why I think Al Idiri should be mentioned is that Turku as a region had international activity and significance before religious invasion and Swedish rule, some what only place in Finland to have on going activity since Viking age and when Finnish folklore was only local religion. Maybe Turku would need prehistoric part on Wiki. --jertique I (talk) 10:35, 16 May 2008 (UTC)