Ask Me Anything About Turkey

[Anon3x156]

Hey, 20yo Turkish here. Turkey is the 6th most visited country in the world. I have personally seen a lot of Americans and Europeans who live here so I thought it'd be a good idea to make a thread to answer your questions if you have any.

I have only been to the US and stayed there about 3 months so I can't really compare it with other countries other than the US.

I can answer your questions about the life in Turkey, economics, taxes, touristic places, safety, healthcare or anything related to Turkey.

Peace.

 

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[Odysseus M Jones]

Hey, 20yo Turkish here. Turkey is the 6th most visited country in the world. I have personally seen a lot of Americans and Europeans who live here so I thought it'd be a good idea to make a thread to answer your questions if you have any.

I have only been to the US and stayed there about 3 months so I can't really compare it with other countries other than the US.

I can answer your questions about the life in Turkey, economics, taxes, touristic places, safety, healthcare or anything related to Turkey.

Peace.

Why is it called Turkey?

 

[kommen]

Yooo, I literally am planning to take a vacation to Turkey because I've never seen snow in real life before and flights from my country to Turkey are affordable, and I don't even need a visa to go there. (I'm from a third-world country, so I don't have much visa-free options)

TL;DR I just want to know the bus and train routes and how can I travel around the Turkish country.

Unfortunately, I don't have much holiday weeks this winter, probably only the last 2 weeks of December. Do you know which parts of Turkey are guaranteed to snow in late December? And what ways can I "chase the snow"? (I mean can I book a bus ticket spontaneously like that? Because for my desires it depends on the weather forecasts)

I check ventusky.com very often in my free time and it shows global snow trends from the last 5 years, and Turkey does have guaranteed snow every winter, but at slightly random places. Although the Erzurum region gets snow almost every winter, it sometimes doesn't.


The picture above shows the snow cover map of Eastern Turkey at 19th December 2020, which was warmer than usual. While sometimes it can get much more snow like in last winter at 20th December 2021:


As much as the north-eastern areas of Turkey that borders Georgia has near-guaranteed snow, how can I SPONTANEOUSLY travel to a certain part of Turkey for the most affordable price? (Sorry if I made this post too long because I'm quite excited haha)

 

[theguy22]

Hey, 20yo Turkish here. Turkey is the 6th most visited country in the world. I have personally seen a lot of Americans and Europeans who live here so I thought it'd be a good idea to make a thread to answer your questions if you have any.

I have only been to the US and stayed there about 3 months so I can't really compare it with other countries other than the US.

I can answer your questions about the life in Turkey, economics, taxes, touristic places, safety, healthcare or anything related to Turkey.

Peace.

Are hair transplants there typically safe and performed by proper qualified surgeons?

 

[Anon3x156]

Yooo, I literally am planning to take a vacation to Turkey because I've never seen snow in real life before and flights from my country to Turkey are affordable, and I don't even need a visa to go there. (I'm from a third-world country, so I don't have much visa-free options)

TL;DR I just want to know the bus and train routes and how can I travel around the Turkish country.

Unfortunately, I don't have much holiday weeks this winter, probably only the last 2 weeks of December. Do you know which parts of Turkey are guaranteed to snow in late December? And what ways can I "chase the snow"? (I mean can I book a bus ticket spontaneously like that? Because for my desires it depends on the weather forecasts)

I check ventusky.com very often in my free time and it shows global snow trends from the last 5 years, and Turkey does have guaranteed snow every winter, but at slightly random places. Although the Erzurum region gets snow almost every winter, it sometimes doesn't.

View attachment 43178
The picture above shows the snow cover map of Eastern Turkey at 19th December 2020, which was warmer than usual. While sometimes it can get much more snow like in last winter at 20th December 2021:
View attachment 43179

As much as the north-eastern areas of Turkey that borders Georgia has near-guaranteed snow, how can I SPONTANEOUSLY travel to a certain part of Turkey for the most affordable price? (Sorry if I made this post too long because I'm quite excited haha)

Hey, there are buses to every city of Turkey. Not sure about the trains. Also there are affordable flights too, but if you're flying to some city that is not so popular, flights are usually more expensive because the frequency is low.

Turkey has a great nature. If you want to do snowy stuff, there are some things I can recommend.

Uludağ - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Uludağ Kayak Merkezi - Home

Uludaginfo.com - Uludağ İnfo

www.uludaginfo.com

You can go to Uludağ for skiing. I honestly never done that but I know it's quite popular.

You can also consider doing the famous Eastern Express Tour.
More Info

Cities like Ardahan, Erzurum, Muş, Bingöl, Van are the cities that get the most snow. You can uses buses for travel anytime. There are buses going between all the cities, multiple times a day. Their prices range between 50 to 500 Turkish liras dependent on the length of the trip. 1USD is about 14.82TL right now. Turkish lira is so volatile, you can check the latest exchange rate on Google.

You can use this website to buy bus / flight tickets.

 

[Anon3x156]

Are hair transplants there typically safe and performed by proper qualified surgeons?

I have never had a hair transplant, but I have seen many people who have had it done in Turkey. If you go to big cities like Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and choose a professional place, you should be okay. There are thousands of health-tourists who come to Turkey every year for hair transplants or plastic surgeries.

 

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[Anon3x156]

Why is it called Turkey?

This is what I have heard: English people thought the animal Turkey comes from the country Turkey so that's why they called it that way lol. Fun fact: In Turkish, we call India "Hindistan". "Hindi" means Turkey. I don't know what's up with turkeys and countries. I'd rather call it Turkish Republic actually but Turkey is what everyone uses so I keep using it.

 

[fastlanedoll]

is it a good idea to invest in real estate there?

 

[Anon3x156]

is it a good idea to invest in real estate there?

Turkey is in NATO and has the second-largest army in the NATO so it's considered safe.
Willingness to Fight Index
You gotta make sure your investment doesn't get blown up by a Russian missile )

4-years price index of 3+1 flats (USD) in Izmir:


Izmir is the 3rd biggest city in Turkey. 3+1 flat prices only increased 0.84% in value in 4 years but increased 41.42% in 2 years. You gotta wait for the right time to buy. To me, it doesn't look like a good time to buy right now. But make your own research. I'm not a real estate expert. You can check the prices yourself on this website.

Also, you can buy a new and modern flat in Izmir for around $75-100k. It's also possible to find flats for $25-30k. This is good if you don't have a lot of money to invest but you still want to invest it.

Earthquakes:

Turkey has one of the most active fault lines in the world. You have to make sure that the property you're buying is not too old and built safe, without using cheap materials and built on a solid ground.
List of notable earthquakes in Turkey

It is common for the first floor of the apartments to be used as shops in Turkey.

In 2020 Izmir Earthquake, a building collapsed because of a brainless store owner, who cut the columns in his store, to make more room. You gotta make sure this is not happening in your apartment.

There are companies here that test the stability of buildings. I'd recommend working with them. If you're buying a flat in a stable apartment, I guess you shouldn't be worried about earthquakes. Also you can buy earthquake insurances.

42% of Turkish people rent their homes, I guess it wouldn't be so hard to rent your property.

Eviction process
This is Turkey, not US. Eviction laws are in favor of the tenant. If your tenant doesn't pay the rent, it can take months to get him/her evicted. You should think twice before renting your flat to someone and make sure they have a stable source of income or pay 3-6 months in advance.

Expenses when you sell your property
If you sell a property that you bought in the last 5 years, you have to pay an income tax if you made any profit but I don't know if this applies to foreign investors or not

Also, this is what I found online
"The sale of the house takes place at the title deed offices. Here, the transfer of title takes place between the buyer and the owner of the house. At this point, a total of 4% fee is deducted from the buyer and the seller, 2% each. In addition, an additional 385 TL revolving fund fee is charged to this price."

Overall, I think if you buy the right property at the right time, there is not a lot of reasons to not to do it.
Also, if you buy a $400,000 property in Turkey, you get a right to get Turkish citizenship lol.

I hope this helps.

 

[fastlanedoll]

Turkey is in NATO and has the second-largest army in the NATO so it's considered safe.
Willingness to Fight Index
You gotta make sure your investment doesn't get blown up by a Russian missile )

4-years price index of 3+1 flats (USD) in Izmir:
View attachment 43196

Izmir is the 3rd biggest city in Turkey. 3+1 flat prices only increased 0.84% in value in 4 years but increased 41.42% in 2 years. You gotta wait for the right time to buy. To me, it doesn't look like a good time to buy right now. But make your own research. I'm not a real estate expert. You can check the prices yourself on this website.

Also, you can buy a new and modern flat in Izmir for around $75-100k. It's also possible to find flats for $25-30k. This is good if you don't have a lot of money to invest but you still want to invest it.

Earthquakes:

Turkey has one of the most active fault lines in the world. You have to make sure that the property you're buying is not too old and built safe, without using cheap materials and built on a solid ground.
List of notable earthquakes in Turkey

It is common for the first floor of the apartments to be used as shops in Turkey.

In 2020 Izmir Earthquake, a building collapsed because of a brainless store owner, who cut the columns in his store, to make more room. You gotta make sure this is not happening in your apartment.

There are companies here that test the stability of buildings. I'd recommend working with them. If you're buying a flat in a stable apartment, I guess you shouldn't be worried about earthquakes. Also you can buy earthquake insurances.

42% of Turkish people rent their homes, I guess it wouldn't be so hard to rent your property.

Eviction process
This is Turkey, not US. Eviction laws are in favor of the tenant. If your tenant doesn't pay the rent, it can take months to get him/her evicted. You should think twice before renting your flat to someone and make sure they have a stable source of income or pay 3-6 months in advance.

Expenses when you sell your property
If you sell a property that you bought in the last 5 years, you have to pay an income tax if you made any profit but I don't know if this applies to foreign investors or not

Also, this is what I found online
"The sale of the house takes place at the title deed offices. Here, the transfer of title takes place between the buyer and the owner of the house. At this point, a total of 4% fee is deducted from the buyer and the seller, 2% each. In addition, an additional 385 TL revolving fund fee is charged to this price."

Overall, I think if you buy the right property at the right time, there is not a lot of reasons to not to do it.
Also, if you buy a $400,000 property in Turkey, you get a right to get Turkish citizenship lol.

I hope this helps.

absolutely lovely!! thank you ❤

 

[MTF]

Just wanted to stop by and say that this is how you provide value to the forum regardless of your age, experience, skills, etc.

@bluffcatcher, how do you see the future of Turkey in the next 10-20 years? Do you plan to live there for the rest of your life? Are people in your environment optimistic about the future or do they want to move somewhere else?

 

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[Anon3x156]

Just wanted to stop by and say that this is how you provide value to the forum regardless of your age, experience, skills, etc.

@bluffcatcher, how do you see the future of Turkey in the next 10-20 years? Do you plan to live there for the rest of your life? Are people in your environment optimistic about the future or do they want to move somewhere else?

Hey MTF, thank you for the kind words man.

I always wanted to emigrate but not because Turkey was so bad, but because I loved the United States.

But now, the things are different. Inflation rate is %100 here due to very wrong economic policies.
Our government is ignorant and corrupt. Monthly minimum wage is around $300 and %40 of the workers live off that.

Turkey is a first-world country with a 3rd world economy.

But obviously, prices are cheaper here. I've been to the US and a Redbull was around $2. The same Redbull is $0.85 here.
Also the rent is way lower than the US. We pay 1000 liras of rent, which is around $67.

I live in a beautiful city called Izmir which hosts the most modern and western people of Turkey.
If you go to a beach in Izmir, you can see some of the Greek Islands.

We have great food and great nature. Affordable healthcare. Free universities.
However the current situation of the economy makes you ignore everything else. Our money is losing it's value everyday. 1 Turkish lira was equal to $0.85, now it's equal to a $0.068.



The reason for this loss of value is wrong economic policies and our corrupt government.

Unemployment rate is high, even if you find a job, the salary is pretty low.
A new software engineer can expect making $6k to $10k a year.
An iPhone is considered a luxury, millions of people still buy it though.

That's why 95% of the Turkish youth wants to go to countries like the U.S, Germany or the U.K.
The 5% says they will stay here and fight to fix the current situation : ) How sweet.

The taxes on cars is unbelievable.
Check this out:

Why This $150,000 Porsche Costs $600,000 In Turkey​

The dream of buying a brand-new car in Turkey is as fake as a tooth-fairy.

Over all this bullshit, Europe screwed us. They paid our corrupt goverment a few billion euros to let them millions of Syrian and lately Afghan refugees in. There are between 5-10m refugees and illegal immigrants in Turkey right now and this really bothers Turkish people, because of the economic and social problems that they cause. Europe used Turkey as a way to block refugees from going to the "Real Europe".

The latest polls show the support for the current government has dropped significantly.
They have the 28% of the votes right now.
In the last election, they got the 42.56% of the votes, and allied with a smaller party that had the 8-9% of the votes.

But they're gonna lose the next election I believe.

The party in power is called AKP, a party pretending to be muslim to get the votes of muslims in Turkey.

Muslims in Turkey were oppresed a little bit before the AKP came to power. You couldn't go to school, university or even the congress with a hijab (islamic headscarf).

Watch this video of the former president of Turkey, Bülent Ecevit, kicking a newly elected deputy out of the congress for wearing a hijab.
Sorry for the bad quality, it's an old video.

That's why there is a 25-30% that votes for the AKP everytime. It's almost impossible to change their ideas. But it's not enough to be the single party in power. Your votes has to be 50+1% or over.

So, what am I gonna do? What are my plans?

I think Turkey is not that bad right now. It's bad actually but I'm used to it lol. There is an election in June 2023, if they lose, I think the situation in Turkey will change dramatically. Also immigrating to another country is not that easy if you're not a millionaire. Especially to first world countries. Also I don't really have valuable skills, I know how to code a little bit but I don't have a degree or experience. So even if I immigrate, I'll have to do bullshit jobs.

So I'm studying for the Turkish university exam so I can go to a good university here, graduate, work at prestigious global companies and then emigrate as a person has valuable skills and experience.

I also applied for the Greencard Lottery of the US lol, the chances to win is something like 6% but not zero and it's happening every year. I would move to the US without hesitation if I won.

But if I had an American citizenship and I had stable income in USD, I would live in Turkey. I would have a higher quality of life. I'd buy a cheap villa like this and enjoy life. If anything goes bad here, I'd go to the US back.

 

[MTF]

But if I had an American citizenship and I had stable income in USD, I would live in Turkey. I would have a higher quality of life. I'd buy a cheap villa like this and enjoy life. If anything goes bad here, I'd go to the US back.

Thank you for your detailed response. I was aware of the economic situation of Turkey but it's one thing to hear about it from the media and another from someone who lives there.

Could you paste a screenshot of that villa? Since I'm outside of Turkey, it's asking me to create an account.

 

[Anon3x156]

Thank you for your detailed response. I was aware of the economic situation of Turkey but it's one thing to hear about it from the media and another from someone who lives there.

Could you paste a screenshot of that villa? Since I'm outside of Turkey, it's asking me to create an account.

And it's just $115k!!!

 

[Simon Angel]

Do guys in Turkey know about the you-know-which club?

 

[Anon3x156]

Do guys in Turkey know about the you-know-which club?

What do you mean by you-know-which club? You're talking about my profile photo?

 

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[Simon Angel]

What do you mean by you-know-which club? You're talking about my profile photo?

Yes.

 

[Anon3x156]

Yes.

Yeah lol. American movies are pretty popular here.

 

[Kaan Gullu]

Hey, 20yo Turkish here. Turkey is the 6th most visited country in the world. I have personally seen a lot of Americans and Europeans who live here so I thought it'd be a good idea to make a thread to answer your questions if you have any.

I have only been to the US and stayed there about 3 months so I can't really compare it with other countries other than the US.

I can answer your questions about the life in Turkey, economics, taxes, touristic places, safety, healthcare or anything related to Turkey.

Peace.

Fellow Turk here✌. It's a bit of a wild idea but I'm thinking of setting up an online marketplace in Turkey. I know it's vague but do you think that makes sense?

 

[Anon3x156]

Fellow Turk here✌. It's a bit of a wild idea but I'm thinking of setting up an online marketplace in Turkey. I know it's vague but do you think that makes sense?

Do you wanna sell products online or do you just want to create a platform like Amazon?

Can you explain your idea a little bit further?

 

[cashbox.money]

Why do Turkish men kiss each other when greeting?

 

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[Anon3x156]

Why do Turkish men kiss each other when greeting?

We don't? Who told you that lol 😀

 

[cashbox.money]

We don't? Who told you that lol 😀

I was there recently and they did... There are some posts on the Internet on this topic so I'm not crazy

 

[Anon3x156]

I was there recently and they did... There are some posts on the Internet on this topic so I'm not crazy

There are around 10mil Syrian, Afghan and Pakistani refugees and undocumented immigrants in Turkey. Is there any chance you have seen some of them and thought they were Turks?

We usually just shake hands and slowly hit the other person's head with our head. Turkish women kiss each other from the cheeks when greeting though.

You can see a Turkish man greeting a Korean man the Turkish way lol.

 

[Itizn]

There are companies in Turkey I'd like to approach for business purposes.

As someone who doesn't live there, or speak the language, how would you recommend starting dialogue?

 

[Anon3x156]

There are companies in Turkey I'd like to approach for business purposes.

As someone who doesn't live there, or speak the language, how would you recommend starting dialogue?

Big companies have English speaking people working for them, but if it's a small company, they might not speak English. Try your chance with English. If they don't answer, you can hire a English to Turkish interpreter on Upwork or Fiverr for really cheap.

 

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[heavy_industry]

This is what I have heard: English people thought the animal Turkey comes from the country Turkey so that's why they called it that way lol.

This bird was sold by people from Turkey, or something like that.

Guineafowl - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Then when they found similar birds in America, they called them turkeys.

 

[notorious]

Hey, we're the same age! I'm going to my family's house in Bodrum this year after not going because for a few years because of Covid, always loved it there. Great food, people in Turkey are nice, the weather is great and little to no crime in cities/towns. Been going there since I was seven years old. I should try to learn a little more Turkish, it's way too bad for the amount of times I've been there. The language is hard though.

How is Tinder for guys in Turkey? Never tried it there and I'm genuinely curious to as what will happen, although I'm not expecting anything and mostly doing it fun and because I've never tried Tinder in a different country. What are your experiences as a local, how do you think it will be for a foreigner?

 

[Anon3x156]

Hey, we're the same age! I'm going to my family's house in Bodrum this year after not going because for a few years because of Covid, always loved it there. Great food, people in Turkey are nice, the weather is great and little to no crime in cities/towns. Been going there since I was seven years old. I should try to learn a little more Turkish, it's way too bad for the amount of times I've been there. The language is hard though.

How is Tinder for guys in Turkey? Never tried it there and I'm genuinely curious to as what will happen, although I'm not expecting anything and mostly doing it fun and because I've never tried Tinder in a different country. What are your experiences as a local, how do you think it will be for a foreigner?

Your performance on Tinder highly depends on your looks, social status and your country of citizenship if you're a foreigner. You speak good English so I assume you're from the UK. Mentioning that you're from the UK on your bio would help I guess.

 

[cashbox.money]

There are around 10mil Syrian, Afghan and Pakistani refugees and undocumented immigrants in Turkey. Is there any chance you have seen some of them and thought they were Turks?

Maybe, I actually don't know exactly. There's information from the Internet:

Greetings Among Men — When two men meet for the first time, they shake hands and sustain direct eye contact. A reasonably firm handshake would be appropriate. Among close friends and family members, hugs or gentle pats on the back are quite common. Other men may kiss each other on both cheeks as well. You may also see men greeting each other by making their temples touch, a greeting among people supporting one of the political parties. Colleagues in business often do not engage in the Turkish kiss.

Guess some men do that, but mostly not. And now it's less popular than in the past. On the other website it's said (by Turkish man):
Oh we very much liked to kiss each other on the cheek (I still do) in the past. But a Tsunami wave of conservatism swept across Turkey and this thing disappeared.