Basic Information about Turkey

TURKEY AS I CONCEIVE IT
“If there is something I know, it is is that I do not know anything.” Socrates

AGRICULTURE
Since we lack a good overview and reliable registration system, it is difficult to say exactly how many people are living in agricultural araes or what percent of the people are dependent on the revenues from agriculture. An estimation may be 35-40 %. Because of the low efficiency and similar problems in the turkish agriculture, the household revenues in the rural areas are quite low. The problem is deepened by the fact that the households in the rural araes are bigger in size than in the urban areas. We see a reflection in the rural areas of the problems in the whole country: The problems of planning, organization and marketing. Subsidies are much less than before and there are quotas for some products as is the case with tobacco. In my opinion, there is an incraesing poverty and cash problems in the rural araes.
I can estimate that if the situation continues like this, there will be increased urbanization. Urbanization is not a solution either. People move from the rural araes to the urban araes with great expectations, which people could get realized in 60s , 70s and 80s to some extent. If there will be a wide wave of immigration, the integration problems will seemingly be much bigger now than in the past.
There are 1.2 million tractors used in Turkey. One third of these are over the age of 20. Most farmers, because of financing difficulties, should be content with the tractors with 50-60 horse power. It is, on the other hand, predicted that every year 40.000 tractors shall be sold.
Tobacco is sown in the Aegean Region ( amongst others in Akhisar, the old Tyatira), in the Western Black Sea region, The Eastern Turkey and the South Eastern Turkey. Tobacco demands mild climate, but also much rain in the winter. Tobacco merchants and the representatives of the Turkish Monopoly inspects the tobacco from september to december. Because of the quotas for tobacco etc., the tobacco has become an unpopular product to invest in. A problem with tobacco is that it takes some months between the time the produce is delievered and the time the farmers get their payments. in the spring months and manuel harvesting is most usual.
Olive is a popular produce with increasing domestic and international demand. Olive trees follow a cycle of the year and non-year ( little produce in the non-year). The main cause of this is that in harvesting shaking-method is used with sticks in use. Then the olive tree needs a time for a rest. In the late spring, you can see mainly women from the villages- transported by lorries and led by a man- working with harvesting of olive. There are tens of millions of olive trees mainly in the Aegean and Marmara regions. Old type olive oil factories are easily visible with their tall chimneys. However, turkish olive oil industry still has marketing problems. Some of the turkish olive oil is known to be sold with foreign brands. TARIS- a cooperative based company- has opened its own shops amongst others in the USA.
Turkey is the biggest exporter of hasslenuts. But, the producers are not content with their earnings. Perhaps, there should be attempts to concentrate on marketing hasslenuts as a processed goods.
In the late spring, summer and early fall, the so-called seasonal workers are easily visible with their tents. We can also call them “tent villagers”. Turkey’s agriculture still forms an important part of its economy and and throughout each year many workers live nomadic lifestyles travelling from whereever they call home ( most of them from southeastern provinces) to the orchards, plantations or fields whereever their labour is needed ( Aegean provinces, Cukurova around Adana-province etc.). They form small tent villages without the infrastructure. Workers travel with their families and set up their primitive tents on the edges of fields, living in deeply unsanitary conditions without basic necessities like toilets, baths or kitchens. Except for the summer, it may be cold in the eveneings and nights; there is the risk of getting ill any moment. Since they are not insured in the social security system, medical expenses may be a big problem. Usually they are surviving on ( dry) bread, tea, herbs and plants they gather. No electricity, no running water. They have gas light. From their small daily earnings, they usually give a percentage to the mediators, who find and organize the workforce on the fields.

ALPHABET AND A LITTLE DICTIONARY
The turkish written language uses the Latin letters. But some letters are not found in English or are spelled differently. Turkish belongs to the Ural-Altaic language family and has some sort of affinity with hungarian language and finnish. The language spoken in Azarbeidjan is understandable by the people in Turkey. Turkish is widely spoken in different parts of the Asia.
Some Useful Words and Expressions:
Good Morning:Günaydın
Good Evening(s) :İyi akşamlar
Good Night : İyi geceler
How are you? : Nasılsın?
Thanks : Teşekkürler
Please : Lütfen
Welcome : Hoş geldiniz. The response is hoş bulduk
Bye bye : Allahaısmarladık, says the one who leaves
and güle güle, answers the one who stays
Excuse me : Affedersiniz or pardon
O.K.: : Tamam
Yes : Evet
No : Hayır
Coffee : Kahve
Tea : Çay
Here you are : Buyurun
Cheers : Şerefe
Food : Yemek
Water : Su
Is there? : Var mı?
The response woould be var(there is) or yok (there is no)

ATATÜRK ( THE FATHER OF THE TURKS)
Ataturk was born in Thessaloniki ( at that time the ottoman territory) in 1881. He studied at the military high school and military academy, served and joined the wars in such places as Trablus in Libia, Damascus in Syria and Gallipoli. In 1916 he bacame general at the age of 35. Until the end of the WW1 he was an officer of the Ottoman Army. By landing on the Black Sea town of Samsun, he started the national independence war. He organized congresses in Erzurum and Sivas as a first step to organize the war. He convened the Grand National Assembly on 23.April, 1920 ( 23.April is now celebrated as The Children’s day), abolished the sultanate in 1922 and declared the Turkish Republic on 29.October, 1923 ( 29.October is now celebrated as the Republic Day).
Big reforms were realized: introduction of the Latin alphabet, abolition of poligamy, Sunday made the official holiday, women’s suffrage, separation of state and mosque. All these would lead Turkey closer to the modern world.
Ataturk was buried in 1953 at his Mousaleum in Ankara, after his corps was maintained temporarily at the Ethnographical Museum in Ankara.
Mousaleum of Atatürk
His birth name was Mustafa; he was given the middle name Kemal by his teacher and in 1934 he was given the surname ATATÜRK, which means The Father of the Turks. He died at Dolmabahce Palace in İstanbul on 10 th November, 1938. Though he may be criticized for some of his actions, there is a wide spread agreement on that without his reforms, Turkey would not be much different from many of the islamic countries, developing countries and Middle Eastern countries..
He founded the Republican People’s Party (CHP)- still one of the most important actors of the turkish political system. Ataturkism based on his ideas is no doubt one of the main ideological pillars of the Turkish Republic.

THE AVERAGE TURK
Turks are generally speaking kind, helpful and honest people. Here there is a strong emphasis on forms of kindness. A couple of words in Turkish will often open the doors.One gives hand when one meets an other. This is a custom that the one who offers tea pays for it. Modesty and respect should be the natural attitude at a visit at a mosque(cami).
Turkish society is also under a comprehensive change and how an average turk will behave in the future is an open question. The tradition-based turkish society, through such processes as urbanization, westernization and globalization, has been going through a process of alienation and becoming more materialistic. The traditions binding the society together are on the way to die out. I think that the Turkish society is becoming a cold society.
Perhaps because it is a Mediterranean society, under the influence of a warmer climate and lack of organizational traditions, Turks resemble more the Mediterranean societies than the North European and North American societies. “Alla maniana” ( To tomorrow) is a latent life philosophy. Turks are not as much loyal to appointment times as the Westerners: To come with a delay of a quarter or half an hour may be acceptable. I can observe everywhere ( political parties, associations etc.) the low degree of democracy and discussion culture. Leadership is desired or accepted by the people.
Appearance of Turks vary from dark skin and black eyes to blond hair and green/ blue eyes. Remember that Turks are ethnically heteregenous. For example, Turkey has received a considerable number of immigrants from Balkanic countries. Even some thousands of Turkish-origined people from Afganistan were settled.

BANKS
We have both publicly-owned ( Ziraat, Vakif, Halk, Is…) and private banks ( Yapi Kredi, Finansbank, Garanti…) . In the recent time the foreign shares of the banks have been increasing ( HSBC, Fortis…). The turkish banking system fell into a deep crisis with an estimated number of 40.000 people who lost their jobs after the big crisis in 2001. Now, there is a betterment visible in the banking sector.
Opening hours are usually Monday-Friday 09.00 -12.30 and 13.30- 17.00. Garanti Bank has halfday opening on Saturdays too. To exchange travel cheques you must show passport. You find ATMs everywhere. I would advise you deny kindly any offer of assistance by the people you do not before.

BARBER/ COIFFEUR
It is cheap to visit barber/coiffeur. Women can also try manicure and pedicure. Men are advised a shave at the local barber. At the old-fashioned barber shops for men run by the experienced barbers, they have two methods for taking away the hair from the face and the ears: The first method is to burn it with a lighter/ a piece of cotton with fire on it; the second method is to wrap a thin rope around one tooth and place the rope around the hair and take it away ( quite painful).


BEVERAGES
TURKISH TEA
Almost all the turks are fond of turkish tea. Turkish tea is a good start point for starting a conversation. Tea is harvested only in the Eastern Black Sea Region.
For making turkish tea, water in the lower teapot must be cooked ,while there is tea in the upper teapot. When the water is cooked, it is poured onto the tea in the upper teapot; and then one must wait for around 10 minutes before tea is ready for serving. You first put the tea cooked in the upper pot and the the water in the lower pot on it. The best is to taste turkish tea in a tea-glass.


APPLE TEA
Apple tea drinking is not usual among the turks. Apple tea is something which the tourists get served in shops or at the hotels.

TURKISH COFFEE
There is a turkish saying : “A cup of coffee is remembered for 40 years”. Nothing can compete with a cup of turkish coffee after a good meal. It can be ordered as sade ( without sugar ), az şekerli (with little sugar), orta şekerli (medium) and şekerli (with much sugar). A glass of water goes well with a cup of coffee.
BEER
The national drink is rakı, but the youth prefer beer. The most well-known brands are Efes (turkish), and Tuborg (produced on license from Denmark).

RAKI
Rakı, which is called lion milk by the people, is the national drink. Rakı drinking is not widespread among women. Rakı resembles in taste the greek “ouzo”. It is drunk as either “sek”(without water) or with water added onto it. The last-named method is advised. When you add water, the colour of water is changed to white. After the ending of Turkish Tekel company’s monopoly over rakı-production, with the new companies founded, new brands are now in the market: Anadolu, Çilingir.
WINE
Wine comes as the third in consumption after beer and rakı. The turkish brands are Doluca, Yakut, Kavaklıdere, Pamukkale, Sevilen and Kalecik Karası.
Formerly it was the Turkish state-owned company Tekel who had the monopoly of producing most of the alcoholic drinks. Tekel’s shares for alcoholic drinks were transferred to the american Texas Pacific Group ( TPG) for 900 million USD.

BLUE BEAD(Mavi Boncuk)
This has nothing to do with Islam but is a superstition. It is found in different sizes. Similiar beliefs exist in other Mediterranean countries. To keep evil away these fascinating blue glass eyes are placed on the clothing of newly born babies, at the entrance to the newly bought house and inside the newly bought car.The horseshoe has a similar function in other countries.
Blue bead ovens are very simply constructed by the clay. Amongst others in the villages of Kurudere in the district of Kemalpasa and Görece in the district of Menderes outside Izmir as well as outside the site of Artemis Temple of Sardis, you find blue bead ovens.

BUS TRANSPORT NETWORK, TRAIN AND FLIGHTS
Turkey has a well-developed bus transport network. Busses are the most common means of transport for passanger traffic between the cities. Because of the sharp competition, the bus-companies need to renew their busses every second-third year. This competition also makes the prices reasonable. Varan, Ulusoy and Boss are the well-known and leading bus-companies with higher prices. Varan has a “bistro” bus service operating between Ankara and İstanbul . In the first floor of Bistro-bus there is the cafeteria section and in the second floor the seats. Busses leave from the bus terminals in the cities and from the main square in villages and small places. Busses suffer from competition by the air companies. Sometimes they started campaigns as it was done once by Kamil Koc offering the rearest four seats for 1 YTL.

Trains are only a transport possibility if one wishes some nostalgic feelings. Turkish rail system needs to be renovated. The speed train projects are under implementation between İstanbul and Ankara and between Ankara and Konya. Turkish railways need to be rehabilitated.
Due to the liberalization in the air, the airfares have fallen down much, which made it possible for many to take the domestic flighs. After the end of the monopoly by Turkish Airlines, such private companies as Atlas Jet, Izair and Onur Air operate in the domestic market.

CLIMATE
Turkey has big variations in climate ranging from the snow dominating heavily in the eastern part to the very mild winters on the Aegean coast. Global warming has become an issue of concern in Turkey too. As of the end of March, 2007, we have had spring-like winter. Global warming has also had some effect on different things. For example, sale of boots and winter shoes has fallen down by 35%. Bursagaz- the company providing nature gas to the city of Bursa insured itself against the fall in consumption because of high temperatures.

CRIME
When one is in Turkey, one should not have a naive conception that everybody is reliable. One shall follow the advise, which is valid for all the big cities in the world. It can be claimed that the crime level in Turkey is lower than in many European countries; but with the influence of traditions decreasing, urbanisation and some causes, the crime rate is increasing. Especially old people and women are more frequently exposed to situations where their bags are taken away by the criminals.
The police organisation complains about the looser laws- a result of the Europeanization process with more rights given to the suspected.

“DOLMUŞ”
Dolmuş means full. “Dolmuş”es have either programmed departure times or they do not start from the departure place before they are filled up. To stop a dolmuş on the way one must wave. Dolmuş is a cheap means of transport in the big city traffic and between the small towns and villages. They have 10 to 18 seats.
I advise that you sit on the rearest seats . Because the passengers send the money to the driver through the the ones sitting in front , who also send the change back.

DRINKING WATER
Water from the tap is not a drinking water, which the European stomachs can tolerate, since it has a higher bacteria and chlore composition than in Europe.Water in bottle can be bought everywhere. Most of the turkish households ( if they can afford it) buy water in the bottle. Because of the global warming felt also in Turkey, the people and authorities are worried about the water shortages in the future.

EARTHQUAKE
Turkey is located on an earthquake belt. In 1939, the eartquake in Erzincan caused over 30.000 people to die. In 199l, at the big earthquake in the area South of İstanbul ( and partially in İstanbul), ca. 20.000 people lost their lives. After the earthquake in 1999, the authorities passed the new regulations requring stricter standards of construction. But, some buildings contructed before these new regulations may be exposed to big damages if a violent eartquake happens. Most İstanbulites are warned against a big earthquake in İstanbul in the near future.
According to the new regulations, there is an obligatory “earthquake insurance” for the buildings; but many neglect to or cannot afford to have it. The regulations require that for selling apartment/ house, this tax needs to have been paid. If this tax is paid, then one is eligible for indemnity by the authorieties.

ECONOMY
The turkish economy was a closed one, based on beeing as much self-sufficient as possible. Starting from the early-80s with the liberalization of the economy, the economy started to open itself up to the world. Export revenues, which were at a low level of only some hundred millions USD, have started to increase and it is estimated that in the near future it will reach a level of 100 billion USD.
Though some criticize the Turkish economy as stil state-dominated ( some, til recently, called it the last socialist economy) has gone through a very comprehensive transformation. Privatization has gained acceleration in the recent time. The share of the foreign capital has also increased. Through the good contacts with the sources of the Arabic capital, arabic investors have also started with investments. The stock market has an important share of foreigners.
Turkey has signed many stand-by agreements with International Monetary Fund. Domestic and foreign debt are stil a problem. Turkey has been exposed to deep crises-the last one in 2001. Since then Turkish economy has been in a rehabilitation period. Inflation which reached as high level as 100% in 90s, was brought down to ca. 10 %. The result has been some sort of recession. The ordinary people do not feel the consequenses of low inflation. Many complain about hidden inflation.
Black money and unregistered money are a big problem for the turkish economy. This causes a lower level of taxation than there should be.
Foreign currencies have been convertible since early 80s.

EDUCATION
From 1997 on, the obligatory schooling was increased from 5 to 8 years ( Basic school). High school was increased from three to four years. In addition to the public schools, which cost small amounts for parents, there are also private schools which offer higher standards of education and facilities. This is the same with the universities. To send a child to a private school / university may cost as much as 5.000 USD and more per year for tuition. Private universities offer scholarships for the students with high grades. The state-given scholarship is far away from beeing sufficient.
In the past, there were three languages which were taught at the basic and high schools : English, french and german. Now, priority is given to english. The pupils start with english at the 4th class of the basic school.
To enter into university has become more and more difficult in the last 10 years. Ca. one and a half million pupils strive to be admitted by the universities. It is usual for the high school pupils to get a supplementary education at the private courses for preparation for the university entrance exam at own cost.
There are american, french, german, austrian, italian high schools in Turkey. There are some universities having english, french and german as language of instruction. There are day and evening
( after 6-7 pm) programs at some universities. The students should pay a tuition fee varying according to what they study. The central authority coordinating the activity of the universities is called YÖK ( Higher Education Institution). There is some criticism against the existing laws and regulations regulating the universities in Turkey and the above-named YÖK for lack of autonomy. The senates of the universities choose three candidates as president and it is the President of Turkey who chooses one of these three as the president of the university. Though he generally chooses the one who got most of the votes, this practice is a subject of criticisim.
Generally a university education is 4 years, veterinary faculty 5 years, dentistry faculty 5 years and medical faculty 6 years.
The minorities as agreed upon by the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 and safeguarded by the turkish laws- Armenians, Greeks and Jews- have their basic schools and high schools in İstanbul. Jews had previously a 5 year-primary school in Izmir. The minority schools have a vice-director appointed by the Ministry of Education.

ELECTRICITY
Turkey has 220 Volt current as in Europe. I remember till 80s some parts of İstanbul had 110 Volt current. The electricity is installed at Dolmabahce Palace in İstanbul in 1912. In the 70s I remember that, because of electricity shortage, in the evenings we had to light candles.

EXCHANGING
Foreign Money can be exchanged at the hotels, banks and exchange offices. The hotels usually operate with lower exchange rate. The best place to exchange foreign currency is the “döviz bürosu”
( Exchange Office). ATMs are available everywhere. As of March, 2007 1 USD is equal to ca.1,4 YTL and 1 Euro equal to ca.1,85 YTL.


FOOD
Restaurants are available everywhere and they serve reasonable and delicious Turkish food and also international courses of all sorts. Some restaurants are open 24 hours. These restaurants are popular amongst those who have been out at night clubs and discoteques; they like to eat “işkembe-stomach soup” –good after taking in much alcohol.
A traditional turkish meal starts with “MEZE”. After eating these MEZEs, you can enjoy the traditional turkish main courses. After the main course, fruit or “Tatlı”( a very sweet turkish dessert in different sorts) is served.
Börek Pastry, filled with vegetables, cheese or meat. Available in many different
types.
Dolma Green pepper, grape leaves, tomatoes, onions or eggplant filled with rice and meat.
Döner Lambmeat or chicken, stacked on a large upright skewer and roasted.

Fish is expensive in Turkey. Fish is grilled or fried. Squids, shrimps and
lobsters are also on the menu. One pays in relation to weight and quality.
Meze Such cold dishes as tsaziki, filled pepper, bean salad etc.
Pide resembles pizza, available in various sorts, for example with vegetables,
cheese, egg or meat.
Şiş kebap Grilled cubes of skewered meat. Found in various sorts.
We have a dish with a strange name “woman-thigh” made of sliced meat and rice. “Iskembe corbasi” made of the stomach of the lamb or cow, is liked by many turks. The head section of the lamb with brain, tongue, eyes etc. is also eaten. “Kokorec” is made of the intestines of the lamb and tasty with spices.
Kokorec

FOREIGN POLICY
In the Turkish Liberation War, The Turkish government had a friendship agreement with the Bolshevic Regime; this seems to be a tactical alliance. Gradually, Turkey chose which side it was to ally itself with: The western world. Membership in NATO and European Union process. Turkey has a long history of European Union membership application. This process started in early 60s; in 2005, Turkey started negotiations with European Union. Turkey is considered to be too large a bite to swallow. There is also concern about Turkey as too large a country which shall have a considerable share in the European decision processes.
When Turkey started with negotiations, the opinion polls showed that ca. 70% of turks were in favour of European Union-membership. The support now is fluctuating, depending on the statements-negative and positive-about Turkey’s membership. Even within the same country, different attitudes are existing. For example, while the German social democrats are strong adherents of Turkey, the Christian democrats are reluctant to support.
What Turkey desires and sees as reasonable is the membership starting in around 2014.
Turkey has had a pro-Israel foreign policy. The new thesis is that The Turkish Sabbataians had a very important role in the foundation of the Turkish Republic and Turkey was founded as a reserve jewish state.
Turkish foreign policy has been concentrated much on the the Turkish-Greek relations with such conflict issues as Cyprus-problem and continental shelf.
Relations with Russia-previously called the Russian Bear, which Turks thought were aiming at reaching the warm waters, are getting better with over one million Russian tourists to Turkey, the Turkish constructors active in Russia and common strategical interests.
Turkey is certainly an important country strategically mainly because of its strategical location.
FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Turkey is a country in a democratization process. I can claim that Turkey, despite its crises and problems, is the most democratic country amongst the countries with a muslim majority. It has been member of NATO since early 50s. Turkey’s alliance has mainly been with the western world.
The Turkish Parliament consists of 550 Parliamentarians, who are according to the constitution elected for a period of 5 years; though an early election after 4 years is usual. There is a very low percentage of women in the Parliament as a reflection of the man-dominated turkish society. If a party wants to enter into the parliament, it needs to get at least 10 % of the votes, a measure taken by the constitution of 1982 to secure that there will not be too many parties in the Parliament and then not a coalition government. The independent candidates, however, can enter into the parliament from their constituencies by obtaining the required percentage of the votes.
Between 1961 and 1980, Turkey had the senate as the second chamber but this was abolished in 1980.
The President is elected for 7 years by the Turkish Parliament and has relatively symbolic powers . Therefore, we do not have a presidential system. The Prime Minister has in practice the main executive power.
There are many points of criticism against the political system of Turkey-amongst others the low representation of the women in the political life and the political parties with lack of internal democracy. So far we have had one female prime minister (Mrs.Ciller) and in the cabinets few female ministers.
Turkey has a centralized system with 80 provinces as the main administrative unit.
A Governor is the government- appointed head of a Province. The main critics against the centralized system is that sometimes even the small investments in the provinces are decided upon in the capital Ankara by the bureaucrats sitting in their offices far away from where the investments will be.
Decentralization of the country is represented by the elected organs and persons such as the provincial assembly, municipal assembly and the village committee, as well as the village chiefs and mayors.
The central system descends from the provinces ( with the centrally-appointed governors) to the districts
( with the centrally-appointed district governors) .
The National Security Council, where the military side composed of the chief of staff, commanders for land forces, marine force, air force and gendermarie ( military police) is practically speaking equally represented together with the government, has been an important actor in the system- one of the main criticisms by the European Union. Though now the secretary of this organ is a civilian, this is not conceived as satisfactory. The main argumentation is that not so much has changed and the National Security Council is stil the most influential organ in the system as the biggest obstruction to the democraticization of the country.

FORTUNE- TELLING BY COFFEE ( “KAHVE FALI”)
When the women come together, it is possible that one of them tells a fortune by inspecting the grounds remaining in the coffee cup. After one has drunk coffee, one turns the coffee cup on the coffee plate. The residues from the coffee cup flows down on the coffee plate. After waiting some time, the coffee cup is turned and what is left in the cup is interpreted. Whether what the fortune-teller tells is a sign of reality or a story is uncertain. We have a turkish saying “Do not believe in fortune-telling , do not either be without fortune-telling.”

FUNERAL
Since in the past, there were no such facilities as morgue, burial the same day was a custom, as can be understood, of practical reasons. In the villages, they usually continue with this tradition. In the urban areas, where there is the possibility to maintain the corpse in the morgue, in order to wait for close relatives residing in an other part of the country or abroad, the funeral may be delayed for some days. But as early as possible, this should happen.
The corpse is washed up by the imam at the mosque/ the municipal section for funerals and a white cloth is wrapped around it covering it totally. Then the corpse is placed in a wooden coffin. There is a funeral pray at the mosque. If there is short distance from the mosque to the graveyard, then the coffin is carried on the shoulders; if there is too long a distance, then it is transported to the graveyard. At the graveyard, the corpse is taken out of the coffin and it is placed in the grave-place with the face turned in the direction of Mecca and soil is placed on it. Cremation is not allowed by the laws at the moment.
I remember from the childhood that when a close relative died, ususally certain number of days
( 7 days…) , we did not watch TV due to respect for the deceased person. But such practices are about to be changed. In the first weeks after the death, the close relatives , friends and neighbours bring food to the house.

GECEKONDU
Gecekondu is something you see in the big cities. There has happened a comprehensive process of immigration from the smaller places to the big cities with the hope of better life conditions and better job opportunities.
Immıgrants find an empty space and build a house in a short time. These areas may previously have belonged to either the state or private persons. The people who build the gecekondus provide themselves with electricity in an illegal way. Gecekondu can directly be translated as “placed in one night” and can be described as the house, which is built on another person’s property in short time. Some of them are pulled down by the municipality. Some municipalities build house blocks for gecekondu inhabitants, get them to move to these places and offer them suitable conditions for buying the new house.
Gecokondu-residents have been considered by the politicians as an important source of votes; therefore the politicians have chosen to give compromises and legalize gecekondus to attract the votes of the gecekondu-residents.
The standards of the gecekondus are possibly better than the slum areas, for example, in South Africa and Latin America. Anyhow, in a country like Turkey aiming at European Union membership, gecekondus can not ( should not) continue to exist.


GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS
Turkey comprises a total area of 780.567 square kilometers, and is divided in 7 geographical regions, of which 97 % lies in Asia and 3 % in Europe. They are divided by the Bosphorus Strait (Istanbul Boğazı), the Sea of Marmara and Dardanelle Strait (Çanakkale Boğazı). These geographical regions have no administrative connotations.
Turkey is surrounded by sea on three sides with a coastline of 8,720 km.
Ankara is the capital with 5-6 million inhabitants, while Istanbul with its 12 millions is the largest city. Izmir with 3 million inhabitants is the third largest city in Turkey.


HAMAM (TURKISH BATH)
Hamam offers a nice way to get rid of the old skin. It is a must for any tourist to visit. Try it if you do not have high blood pressure and breathing problems. In some hamams there are specific days for women.
Hamam visits are unfortunately a dying tradition for Turks. Previously it was a meeting/ socialization place. Many people did not have shower/ baths in their homes in the past. The bride together with the other women usually visits a hamam before the wedding , or if one is out on a journey then one can consider visiting a hamam. Hamam must not be confused with banyo.
Turkish hamam-sector is dominated by the owners and hamam-workers from Sivas and Tokat provinces.


HAREM
Harem is a designation for a section in the house reserved for women. The extreme example is found in Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. Except the sultan it was only the eunuchs who were allowed in the harem. Mustafa The Third is said to have ca. 120 children. Roxalane-the wife of Suleyman the Magnificant- was one of the most important personalities the harem created.

LIBRARIES, BOOKS AND TURKISH LITTERATURE
When you travel around in Turkey, you will see many mosques, which certainly has the function of meeting the personal religious needs. As for the personal cultural needs of the people, as we can see from the number and quality of the public libraries, it is far away from beeing satisfactory. When I compare the libraries in Turkey and Norway ( where I stayed for five years) even with a section with books in turkish, I can easily conclude that the public library services should be made better. It is a fact that the turkish nation is a speaking nation, rather than a reading nation; therefore the demand is not big by a majority of the people.
Books are usually not published in big number of copies. One can search for causes and reasons for this; we can point to amongst others the fact that printing in a large scale came to the ottoman empire quite late. Censoring and government control in the past may also be mentioned. The development of the turkish litterature has also been hindered by some factors.
Some leading turkish authors show themselves. The one who has become the most popular is the Nobel-prize winner Orhan Pamuk, with such novels as Istanbul and Kar ( Snow). He has a quite heavy and sophisticated language but his intricate language explains the details of the phenomena and places as sought for by the intellectuals. The second author we can mention is Yasar Kemal, whose novels were published in may languages. In contrast to Pamuk with the descriptions of the modern life, Kemal gives us mainly the description of the rural araes and rural life. As we can see in his book “Mehmet My Hawk”, he uses many paragraphs even for describing a small plant.

MARRIAGES
In the western parts of Turkey-especially in the cities, love marriage and marriage based on mutual agreement by the boy and girl are more common. Pre-arranged marriage is still common in the Eastern parts of the country, though there is an increasing tendency to ask the boy and girl their consent. Though on the way to be extinct, the practices where it is agreed in advance on whom to marry whom or where a widowed woman gets married to the brother of the deceased husband still continue.
In the rural areas marriage around the age of 20 for men and around the age of 18 for women is very common. In the urban areas and amongst the educated people, the age of marriage is getting higher.
Virginity is still important especially in the rural areas. Practice of living together without official marriage is not very common, but it is on an icrease.
Marriage is legalized through a marriage contract approved by a representative from the municipality. Some prefer to have an islamic marriage contract through the presence of an imam, as supplement. Marriage of homosexual couples is not an issue at the moment; but it is probable that in the future, as a result of European Union process, it may be legalized. Here, a general consensus by the people is needed; because of that some time is needed. Marriage between the members of different religions and sects is becoming more common.
Violence within the family is still a problem, as we can see cases made public by media. There are unfortunately also cases where the well-educated men apply violence on their wives.

MEDIA-RADIO, TV AND NEWSPAPERS
Radio was the most-spread means of getting news til the TV came to our daily lives. After the monopoly by the state was ended in late 80s, private radio channels emerged everywhere in Turkey. TV –broadcasting was to start with under the monopoly of the state with the state channel TRT. The broadcasting was in the start phase- late 60s / early 70s – limited to the big cities and short durations and on some of the week days. The coloured broadcasting and, some time after that, the private channels came into beeing in the 80s. We have such national channels as NTV, CNN Turk, TV 8 ( these are considered to be more “serious” with little of magazine programs) , Show TV , Star TV and state channels TRT1, TRT 2, TRT3,TRT4. Most of the turkish private channels are magazine-based with such programs as
“ Somebody is watching us” “ Will you marry me?”, “Will you be my daughter-in-law?” and “Survivor”. It is popular to get installed satellite TV; and such pay TVs as “Digiturk” and “League TV” ( for watching the matches of the three big clubs-Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas) are also popular. As a result of the reforms, the state channel TRT has programs and news, though of short duration, in some languages spoken in Turkey –amongst others kurdish.
The newspapers with the biggest circulation are amongst others Hurriyet, Milliyet, Posta, Zaman. The price is at a level of 25 cent. Cumhuriyet is an old newspaper, which associates itself with the Ataturkist principles, though with a small circulation.
The media is controlled by big groups, which own radios, TV channels and nespapers and magazines. This leads to the criticism that the media is under the control of the cartels.
The state channel TRT have news in English. There are FEW main english newspapers in Turkey: Turkish Daily News, Anatolian News and Today’s Zaman.

MILITARY, MILITARY SERVICE
Turkey has been a loyal member of NATO since 50s. Opinion polls show that the military has been considered as one of the most reliable institutions in Turkey. This is perhaps because of the discipline the military has had. The military has expelled its few members, who have been involved in corruption cases.
The military has always represented the modernisation of the country. The military is represented in the National Security Council , which is still a dominant institution in the Turkish administrative and political system, though the council is defined as an advisory body.
The older generation of turkish men remember they had as so long military service as 36 months especially during the WW2. At the age of 20, turkish men are responsible for the military service. Those who have completed a university education of minimum 4 years, do it either as ordinary soldier for 6 months or as reserve officer for 12 months. Those who have resided and worked abroad for a minimum of 3 years are eligible for performing the military service for 1 month by paying a certain amount.
The socalled civil service, performing the military service without weapon and working at the state offices-hospitals etc., is not allowed at the moment. But, in the future, this may be a possibility.
The women can be officers and underofficers. No woman soldiers at the moment.

MONEY
From 1.Januar, 2005 Turkey has had a transition to the new money system with the new turkish lire (Yeni Türk Lirası = YTL). Six zeros were erased from the old amount ( Türk Lirası=TL ) and kurus of the old days came back to circulation as yeni kuruş (YKR). Here is a comparison of the old and new units:
Before Now
100 thousand TL 10 YKR
500 thousand TL 50 YKR
1 million TL 1 YTL
5 million TL 5 YTL
10 million TL 10 YTL
20 million TL 20 YTL
100 million TL 100 YTL

MOSQUES
The slim mosque tower from where people are called in to the prayer five times aday is called minaret ( minaret). The person doing this is called müezzin. Now, they uually use loudspeakers, rather than climbing the stairs to the minaret. Blue Mosque in İstanbul has six minarets. The balconies are called şerefe which interestingly means also “cheers”.
The apsidal( niche) section inside is called “mihrap” and the section with the stairs is called “minber”.
Blue Mosque in Istanbul

MOSQUITO
At the pharmacies or supermarkets you can buy a “mosquito machine”. The device is connected to a socket and tablets are placed on it. A tablet has an effect in 8-9 hours and is placed a couple of hours before sleeping time. Mosquito sprays are sold at the pharmacies. Malaria is almost eradicated.

MUNICIPAL BUSSES, SUBWAY AND TRAM
It is the municipalities which administer the busses and undertake passanger traffic within the city borders. The ticket prices are approximately 1½ YTL in the larger cities and a little less in smaller places. İstanbul has an extensive system with subway and tram. Ankara, İstanbul and Bursa have a relatively satisfactory subway, stil in a process of development. In Konya, Antalya and Eskisehir, there are tram systems.

NATIONAL DAYS
The most important national day is 29.October-The Republic Day ( on 29th October, 1923 Turkish Republic was founded), when all the nationalist feelings reach a climax. 23.April ( on 23rd April, 1920, The Turkish Parliament was summoned for the first time) is celebrated as Children’s Day. 30th August ( on 30. August, 1922, Turkish Liberation forces gave the final blow to the occupation forces) is celebrated as Victory Day and it is dominated by the military parades. 19. May ( on 19th May, 1919, Ataturk arrived by boat from İstanbul to the Black Sea town of Samsun, where he started the National Independence War.
Recently 18.March was declared as The Day of The Martyrs. On 18th March, 1915 the otoman turkish soldiers on the Gallipoli Penisnsula gave a blow to the warships of the allied forces.

NURSES
Beeing a nurse has required beeing a woman til recently. Now, the nurse schools are also admitting the men. This is a new phenomen for the turks.

PHARMACY
Pharmacy is eczane in turkish. In Turkey it is usual to buy many medicines without a prescription. It is the Chamber of Pharmacists, which coordinates the pharmacies. Based on the number of inhabitants there are one or more pharmacies, which are on duty to be open after normal working hours. Women are well-represented in this profession.

PHOTOGRAPHY
It is prohibited to take pictures of police, military areas and soldiers. People usually like that their photos are taken, but for the sake of security and for beeing kind it is best to ask for permission to do so.

POLITICAL PARTIES
There are around 30 parties- big and small- participating at the elections. We do not have as many old parties as in England or USA. This is because after the foundation of the Turkish Republic, no ottoman parties continued to exist, though the ideologies they represented may have been recreated in the turkish parties. Secondly, the military coups of 1960, 1971 and 1980 banned many parties. The oldest party of Turkey is CHP ( Republican People’s Party) which is at the same age with the republic ( Though it was also banned for a period after the coup of 1980).
CHP is the party associated with Ataturkist principles, but in the last ten years its votes varied between 9 % and 20 %. At the moment we have a one-party government with AKP ( Justice and Development Party) which got 34 % of the votes at the election 2002. AKP is a party which may be defined as a splinter party which was born from the islamic FP ( Virtue Party).
AKP, led by the prime minister Mr. Recep Tayip Erdogan, claims that it is a moderate party with islamic themes. It is very careful not to draw the attention of the juridical system, which are quite strict on islamic components within the system. AKP is a party of factions with different attitudes towards which influence islamic principles should have in the system. However, at the moment the core of the party is dominated by the people having the sympathy of Islam. It is natural that within a big party, there are factions/ groupings.
The military and some Ataturkist organizations are much concerned about the infiltration of AKP-cadres in the administrative system. There is worry that the country is step-by-step in islamization process. There is the complain that AKP has a hidden agenda. AKP, on the other hand, calls itself a conservative party and muslim democratic party. If we shall have an objective point of view, AKP seems to be a reflection/ counterpart of the Christian Democratic parties within an islamic context.
Besides AKP and CHP, MHP ( Nationalist Action Party) has a nationalist ideology; but they deny their heritage as “gray wolves”- criticized for many political murders before 1980. DYP ( True Path Party) - originally a conservative party with the rural areas as its stronghold-, the liberal ANAP
( Motherland Party)-the government party from 1983 to 1991, GP ( Young Party)- a party led by the businessman Mr. Cem Uzan try to enter into the parliament. The nationalist Kurds, organized at DTP
( Democratic Society Party) has so far not been able to exceed the 10% barrier. At the next elections they will seemingly try the method of sending independent candidates to the parliament. They may then have ca. 30 “independent” members in the nex parliament.
Rest of the parties have no chance to enter into the parliament, unless they form alliances or the barrier is lowered to 5-7% level as suggested by European Union. New formations may be realized. In the past, there was a Turkey Women’s Party. The turkish women organization KALDER demands that a certain quata should be given by the parties to the women at elections. Similarly there was in the past a Radical Party with the representation of the homesexuals. Such minorities as homesexuals may in the furure attempt at sending their representatives either through the existing parties or sending independent candidates.
There is much criticism againt the lack of democracy and leadership control within the turkish parties.

REAL ESTATES
In the past, when we had high inflation, most people could not rely on turkish currency. One of the alternative means of investment were foreign currencies ( USD, German Mark). Even when people borrowed money from friends and other people, they borrowed in foreign currency. The lender simply wanted to secure himself. An other means of investment was real estates. By buying real estate, the people believed they could maintain the value of their savings.
Real estate sector will be one of the sectors of the future. Beeing a real estate agent is much easier than in the West. It has so far been a sector which we have associated with the retired under officers and similar people. The laws for beeing eligible for becoming a real estate agent now demand that one should attend a real estate agent course for ca. 4-5 weeks. But, this is far away from increasing the qualities of a real estate agent. It is discussed that in the future only people with special university education will be a real estate agent. The real estate agent commision is usually 3% from the buyer and 3% from the seller, while, for example, the chamber of real estate agents in Ankara decided on 2%. Naturally, as a consequence of the competition and market situation, the real estate commission rates are negotiatable.
Turkish laws relatively recently have made it easier for foreigners to buy real estate in Turkey. The citizens of those countries, where the turkish citizens can buy real estate, can buy real estate in Turkey. But one should apply for permission from the military’s special section, which sees to that the real estate is not located in a strategically important area etc. There are also some restrictions; for example a danish citizen should also have a minimum of 6 months’ residence permit before he can buy a real estate in Turkey; and there are limitations on the size of the land which may be bought by one foreigner.
Naturally there are some groups of people who criticize the new law; they say the country is sold out to the foreigners. On the way to European Union membership and because of the ageing populations of the West, Turkish real estates are becoming more and more attractive for foreigners. The British is the largest group in purchase of real estates in Turkey ( Didim, Bodrum, Fethiye, Kusadasi).
I think that real estate is still reasonable in Turkey. There are big variations in the real estate prices. It is the location, neighbours ( We have a turkish proverb saying “Do not buy house, buy neighbour”) , standards of the house, the size of the house, the age of the house etc. which determine the price. If one hears that an apartment was sold for 40.000 USD, then it is probable that it has a bad location and/or it has low standards. If one wants an apartment with acceptable standards and an acceptable location ( but not the best), one has to spend 80.000-100.000 USD minus/ plus.
If one thinks of long-time investment, then it is advisable to invest in land. If the land, which is not not open to construction at the time of purchase , becomes an area of construction, the prices increase a lot.
When buying land in Turkey, one should check whether the area is a protected area ( ancient site, forest etc.).
The big foreign real estate investors have recently become interested in turkish real estates and construction projects. A Dubai-based company have newly bought a valuable land of 45.000 square meters in Istanbul for ca. 700 million USD.
The law on mortgage has recently been passed. But, since there will be strict rules on who can benefit from mortgage, and since the majority of people in Turkey have low/ instable income, it is very probable that in the first instance only a small segment of the society will be able to benefit from mortgage. Though it is stil discussed, the tax advantages with mortgage ( as one has them in the West) does not exist at the moment. Mortgage, on the other hand, will secure higher standards and conformity with the turkish construction laws.
At the purchase of a real estate, total 3/1000 of the sales value should be paid as sales tax. Real estate taxes paid yearly vary according to the city, location etc. For a normal apartment with an avarage size of 100 square meters, one may reckon with ca. 120 USD. We also have the “cleaning tax” paid to the municipalities. For the above-mentioned type of apartment an estimation would be 20-30 USD per year.

RE LIGION
99 % of the population are Muslims. Turkey does not have a state religion and all the non-muslims have now an increasing degree of religious freedom. When you visit a mosque, you should show respect for Islamic customs. You should take off your shoes before entering. Short slieved shirts or shorts are not suitable for such a visit. Women should completely cover their hair.
There are two main religious festivals. A three day Festival is celebrated after the Ramadan Month of Fasting. The Sacrifice Festival (Kurban Bayramı) lasts 4 days.
Majority of the muslims belong to the dominant “sunni” sect, while the alawis make up ca. 30%. Turkish alawis have such common points as emphasize on Saint Ali and twelve imams with the Shiites; but interestingly they are known as the more secular segment in Turkey. Though the alawi villages may have mosques too, their place for worship is “cemevi” where they have their rituals with dances.
Most of the christians live in İstanbul and the biggest christian minority is the Armenians. We find the second biggest armenian community in Ankara ( 1000-1200). The Armenians of Ankara use the French Catholic Church. There are some tiny groups of Christians all around in Turkey. Besides the relatively new apartment churches opened in different parts of Turkey, there are active old churches amongst others in Ankara, Izmir ( Some catholic churches, some protestant churches, dutch church, greek-orthodox church), Adana ( catholic church), Samsun ( catholic church), Trabzon
( catholic church), Kayseri ( armenian ahurch), Diyarbakır ( armenian church, syriac church, caldenian church), Mardin ( syriac churches), Midyat and its villages ( syriac churches), Vakifli-village in Hatay-province ( armenian church), Hatay Province with Antakya and villages ( arab-orthodox churches), Mersin ( catholic churches) , Konya (catholic church).
The Armenian Church in Kayseri
There are ca. 25 thousand jews, of whom the majority live in İstanbul. You also find jews with active synagogues in Izmir ( ca. 2.000), Bursa, Ankara, Adana, Antakya, Iskenderun and few jews with almost inactive synagogues in Canakkale and Kirklareli. It has become difficult to enter into the well-protected synagogues. You usually should contact the local community leader before a visit. In İstanbul, there are stricter formalities.
Whichever country it is, beeing a minority ( religios, social or sexual) is not easy. As for jews, we should remember that it was the otoman empire who received many sephardic jews from Spain, from where they were expelled. Except for few unpleasant events, compared to what happened in may countries, Jews had a relatively free life in Turkey.

SHOPPING : WHAT CAN BE PURCHASED IN TURKEY?
*Blue bead *cotton goods *fig( dried in packages) *gold * mohair clothes
* coffee or tea cups *spices * film slides of Turkey and antique cities
* meerschaum pipe *music cassettes * onyx *porcelain,wall ornaments
*statues of Artemis, Propilos, the Virgin Mary etc. ( of limestone)
*textiles * Turkish Delight (Lokum) * Carpets * Leather
Turkey is the ideal place for shopping, so far as leather goods, jewellery, carpets and handwoven kilims are concerned. There are also many shops with smart fashion clothing for reasonable prices.
Gold and Jewellery
Gold is a popular memory from Turkey. Gold on its own is not cheaper here, since the gold price is ruled by a world market price, which is the same over the world; but wage costs are lower. This makes the salesprice cheaper. Materials are as usuallly 14 carat; but also 18 and 22 carat gold is available. Price of jewellery is calculated on the basis of the weight of the gold, which is placed on the jewellery, and the work done for the production.
Price is calculated in the following way: Gram-unit x gold price x wage
Carpets
Knotted carpets and woven kilims are world-famous both because of its artistic work and quality. They are made throughout Turkey. However, each region has its own pattern and own colours. Handmade carpets are manufactured mainly in four categories:
1. pure wool 2. wool/ cotton 3. pure silk 4. silk/ cotton.
Hand-woven kilims is a seperate category.
Carpets are priced amongst others on the basis of the following factors:
A: Size of the carpet B: Number of knots per cm2 C: The material used
D: The age of the carpet
Remember to check that you have “certificate of authenticity” for your carpet, since all the important details are specified on that certificate. It is also of importance for the value of the carpet.
Those, who consider buying a carpet, can participate at a carpet information, which can be arranged by the travel agencies / tour guides.
Leather
Turkey offers good and reasonable selection of leather products.
Ceramics
Though menaced by the Chinese producers, turkish ceramics art distinguishes itself as a tradition-based art. Glazing and details in designs are what makes the difference in price.

TAXI
Taxies have day and night tariffs (night from 00.00 to 06.00) and all taxies have taximeter. Remember to make the driver turn on the taximeter. In Izmir there are ca. 3000 taxies and in İstanbul ca. 20.000 taxies. To get a so-called taxi line/ license, in some big cities you have to pay a great deal , depending on which taxi-terminal you belong to, this sometimes costing over 100.000 Euro.

TELEPHONE, MOBILE PHONE AND INTERNET
For telephone calls a card can be bought. These are of three different categories/prices depending on how long one shall talk. At the homes, Turkish Telekom ( recently bought up by the foreign Oger Group) made equal the prices for the telephone calls within the provinces and between the provinces ( ca. 9 YKR per minute). Compared to how it was in the past, international calls from home cost much less now, due to the competition provided by skype, msn etc. As of February, 2007, Turk Telekom has 19 million subscribers. Turk Telekom offers different types of subscriptions such as “reasonable line”, “standard line”, “talkative line” and “company line”. For these lines, there are different monthly fixed fees.
At the moment there are three GSM-operators: Turkcell ( as the biggest), Avea and Telsim-Vadafone. They have both subscribers and cash-pay cards. Because of the competition, they try to offer attractive packages. For example, Telsim-Vadofone now offers calls abroad for 25 YKR+ VAT per minute. What may be to complain about is high taxes on the calls : In addition to 18 % VAT, there is also 25% special communication tax ( what we unofficially call the eartquake tax, since this tax was imposed after the severe eartquake of 1999 in order to finance the reconstruction of the earthquake-hit areas).
An internett Access through ADSL at home with 4 GB limit costs ca. 15 euro per month. Alternatively, you have many internet cafes almost everywhere. Internet use at the internet cafes usually costs 1-1,25 YTL per hour. Internet is becoming more and more common. However, amongst the youth, it is observed that it is used usually for chatting and games, rather than having access to the sources of knowledge.
Child porno is now a big concern in Turkey. The government takes this problem seriously and may impose stricter laws on the internet cafes and internet-service providers ( with filtering systems imposed etc.)

TIME
Local time in Turkey is equal to GMT plus 2 hours during the summer months.

TIPS
All who work in the service sector appreciate tips. When, for example, you are in a restaurant and content with the service, you must leave a tip. How much? I would advise 5 to 10 % of the bill. In some restaurants tips are included in the bill under the name “service”.

TOILETS, TOILET PAPER
There are two types of toilets used in Turkey: the western type toilets, which are very common in the western countries and what I would rather call the oriental type toilets. With few exceptions one would find oriental type toilets in the rural areas. It is based on cleaning with water. As I also could see in childhood, the older generation had a small piece of cloth for drying purposes.The water is also used in the western type toilets: see the thin water pipe stretching out.
It is not guaranteed that you will find toilet paper in the public toilets. Therefore, for the sake of security, a tourist should bring toilet paper with himself. The comsumption of toilet paper is incraesing; however there are stil many houses it has not penetrated. There was a group of female tourists travelling around in Turkey as official guests in 50s. When they did not find toilet paper it became a scandal. After then the turkish authorities decided on the production of toilet paper, which would at least meet the demand by the foreign visitors to Turkey.

TOURISM
It is the Ministry of Tourism in Turkey, which has the responsibility for the tourism. Tourism has gone through a comprehensive development process in the 80s and 90s with the construction of high-quality touristic hotels. The number of the tourists have increased year by year except in the periods with such world phenomena as september 11, Iraq War etc.
The number yearly beeing close to 20 millions, most tourists come from Germany, followed by the Russians and the British. Americans are no doubt the most popular nation simply because of their generousity and high purchasing power.
The Turkish tourism needs to go through a new transformation. It should not be limited to the coastal touristic resorts. Diversification of tourism is a necessity. Cultural tourism should be given more attention to. Istanbul, declared as the world culture capital in 2010, should be developed as a touristic center competing with, for example, London and Paris, such that rather than attracting few millions of tourists, it could attract 20-30-40 millions of people. The Eastern part of Turkey has a great potential, but little exploited and there is needed a certain degree of security.
Anyhow, the number of tourists close to 20 million yearly, is far away from beeing satisfactory, when we consider Turkey as the cradle of civilizations, as a country with nice and varied nature.

TOURIST BUSSES
Tourist busses is a category of busses, which is used for transport of the tourists. There are certain rules concerning maximum how old they may be etc. Some of the big travel agencies have their own busses, while most of them hire the busses from the tourist bus companies. Tips are a very important source of income for those drivers, who do not own the busses.

TOURIST INFORMATION
All the big cities have a state-run tourist information office, where one can get information about and help for bus-times, flight times, opening hours at the museums etc. Maps and tourist brochures are available there. Shortly speaking whatever a tourist is in need of. At some tourist offices, the staff may have problems with expressing themselves in the major foreign languages.

TURKS ABROAD AND IN GERMANY
Turks are found almost everywhere in the world. The largest group of turkish citizens are in Germany. Starting from early 60s, Turks started to live and work in Germany. Most of them came from the rural areas and small towns with no experience of living in the cities. This is one of the main sources of the visible problems of their integration in the German society. In the beginning, turks had the intention of working in Germany, saving up money and moving back to their homeland. In the beginning they were called guest workers. The present day situation is that majority of them stayed on.
The first generation of turks seem to be stuck into their culture totally with little integration into the German society and language problems. The second generation seems to be somewhere between the two cultures, while the third generation is better integrated and almost germanized.
Whatever the degree of integration, Turks of Germany is of importance politically and economically. They have a key role in determining which party shall get the power. We can see Turks support SPD and Greens mainly. They have already started to have seats in the Federal Parliament and local parliaments. Few have been elected member of European Parliament.
Turkish entrepreneurs in Germany are expected to have a total turnover of 95 billion Euro in 2010. At the moment there are 60.000 entrepreneurs in Germany, creating employment for 370.000 people. Turkish people in Germany attract the attention of the german banks. A german bank started a campaign called “Bankam” ( Meaning my bank in turkish) whereby some branches shall be specially-designed with turkish-speaking staff for the clients of turkish-origin.
Similar problems and contributions are observable for turks living in other countries.

WAGES, SOCIAL SECURITY SYTEM , RETIREMENT, UNEMPLOYMENT PAYMENT AND HEALTH SYSTEM
There are big variations in wages in Turkey. Especially in the private sector, there may be such fringe goods as free dwelling, telephone and car. However, such fringe goods are granted less frequently than in the past. What you get as an employee depends on different factors, amongst others the level of demand in the sector you are in, education, experience, language skills, the wage policy of the firm etc. The minimum wage in Turkey is around ca.250 Euro per month. In Turkey, since the tax on wages ( with varying percentages according to your wage) is automatically deducted, people do not usually know their brutto wages.
Many people get quite small wages: ca.250-300 Euro is very usual amonst the uneducated manual workers. With increased qualifications there are usually better wages. Some examples:
*Ordinary state employee with the low seniority: ca.450 Euro
*Nurse : ca. 450 Euro
*General paractioner doctor in the public service: ca. 700 Euro ( Doctors with specialization get more)
In some hospitals, there are such arrangements as “revolving capital” and when a profit is made, it is shared amongst the employees. In Turkey, beeing a doctor meant in the past both a prestige and increasing revenues by time. In the past, it was unusual to be general practitioner; now it is difficult to become a doctor with specialization, with more doctors and more competition. This has led to that now many doctors suffer from remaining all their lifes as general practitioners. Those doctors who have specialization have better chances to make good money. If you are a well-known doctor, you can open your own office and earn a lot. Especially the well-known doctors with academic titles earn a lot. Half an hour’s visit at such a doctor may cost 50-60 Euro and if you are very popular, then you can earn thousands of Euro per month. In the rural and traditional parts of Turkey, beeing a female gynecologist may mean that you are preferred more.
*Underofficers-Officers : Starting from 600 Euro as underofficer to 1.200 Euro as colonel. If you are a pilot in the air force, you get additional payments.
*Teacher: Almost similar to what a nurse gets.
As for wages, we have the problem of not beeing registered in the social security system: You may work and get your wage but you may not be registered. Not beeing registered means that you do not gain any retirement points and you are not eligible for getting health services almost free of charge. There are some reasons for this. The employers do not want to or cannot afford to pay social security premiums and employer fee ( a minimum total of ca. 150 Euro per month) or the employees chooses to get more than what they would get if they are registered. I see this as a very big problem in Turkey. Many people complain that they were not registered for long time, which in turns affects when they can become retired and the pension amount if they may retire. The problem is quite big in the villages and also amongst those working on their own. Some cannot afford to pay the premiums. Beeing a registered employee or retired, you have acccess to public health services with some small contribution by you. The wife/ husband and children til a specific age have access to the same services through the registration. When you are without work, the same rights are valid within 6 months after you left. If you are unemployed or unregistered, then you have to rely on your funds for health services.
We have also a card called “green card” by which those without work have access to certain level of medical services ; but this is not easy to get issued : bureaucratic procedures etc. So far, the strong family traditions have been helpful.
It was for me funny to see that til late 90s, the women at the age of 38 and men at the age of 43 could become retired after 20 and 25 years of work respectively. Now the age limits and the number of years in work have been increased a lot. You usually get a pension corresponding to two thirds of your last wage.
Unemployment payment is a relatively new phenomenon; but at the moment one should work a certain number of months before one is entitled to get it. It is paid as a certain percentage of the minimum wage. Today’s 100-150 Euro per month is relatively unsatisfactory. But I see this as a start step and it is obvious that unemployment payment should be better both as amount and coverage.
As can be understood from the above paragraphs, the turkish health system does not cover the whole population, which I see as one of the major problems of Turkey. Those under the age of 18 are entitled to get public health services. The existing government aims at having a general coverage for the whole people. According to the plan, the unregistered people and the officially unemployed shall be required to pay ca. 35 USD per month; if they can prove that they cannot afford to pay this, this amount shall be paid by the government.

WOMEN
Though Turkish women got the right to vote and to be elected in 1934, even before some cantons of Switzerland, and though Ataturk had the intention of increasing the status of women, the present day situation is not as desired. However, the turkish women have obtained rights which the women in many countries do not have. When we look at the composition of the turkish parliament, the women make less than 5%. In such professions as teacher or pharmacist, the women have a condiserable share. However much needs to be done. Honour killings is stil problem, though less frequent than before.
The status of women is dependent on whether or not they have ecomical independence. The women who are dependent on their husbands do not exercise their rights easily.
We can see that majority of the divorced women have economical independence. Divorce is increasing in the urban areas and is becoming more spread phenomenon.
I would rather call the turkish society a man-dominated society. However, I imagine especially in the rural areas of some European countries, the situation is not much more different ( Italy, Greece…). It is also difficult to say that the women’s participation, for example, in the American Congress is very satisfactory.

.
Sinan TORTUM
Tour Guide- English and Norwegian
Mail : stortum@yahoo.no
Cell : +90.539.224 00 93
Web : www.izmirtourism.com


Sinan Tortum is the team leader of FELLOW GUIDES- a group of Turkish private tour guides with tour guide services in Izmir, Selcuk, Ephesus, Kusadasi, Istanbul, Cesme, Foca, Karaburun, Sigacik, Teos, Dikili, Pergamon, Ayvalik, Akcay, Pamukkale, Cappadocia ( Urgup, Goreme, Avanos), Antalya, Kemer, Side, Alanya, Bodrum, Marmaris, Didim and Urla in Turkey in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Polish.
We cooperate with the local agencies for tours in Izmir, Selcuk, Ephesus, Kusadasi, Istanbul, Cesme, Foca, Karaburun, Sigacik, Teos, Dikili, Pergamon, Ayvalik, Akcay, Pamukkale, Cappadocia ( Urgup, Goreme, Avanos), Antalya, Kemer, Side, Alanya, Bodrum, Marmaris, Didim and Urla. We offer private and group tours in Turkey.
Sinan Tortum is also team member of www.izmirtourism.com which is a modern, friendly and comprehensive website about Izmir ( Smyrna), Turkey.
Representative for Sun Dental Clinic in Balcova, Izmir, Turkey- Dental Treatment Services in Izmir Turkey
http://www.sundentalclinic.com/