Once upon a time, Bursa was one of the first capitals of what became the Sublime Ottoman State. In those days, Bursa was known as Green Bursa, for the verdance of its landscape and the many parks and green spaces that popped up throughout the city.

But today if Karagöz and Hacivat peered around their hometown they would recognise less and less of it. The fume and ash of industrial growth is slowly killing the old natural beauty of the city, renaming it the Detroit of Turkey; at the same time, however, that same acrid smoke comes from factories that produce the stuff that makes Turkey and its citizens prosperous. As Turkey industrializes, it is likely that Bursa will become greyer as its people become wealthier.