I think it was already the time to prepare a list of Frequently Asked Questions about Turkey, Turkish people and Turkish language as we get the same kind of questions from everyone. I'll update the list if I get more interesting questions ;)
What is your language? / Do you speak Arabic?
Turkish and no it's not Arabic. Its roots are from Central Asia and it is not like any of the Indo-European languages. Turkic languages are in the family of Altaic along with Mongolic and debatebly Korean and Japanese. And open to more discussion it's close to the family of Hungarian and Finnish.
The countries who speak Turkic languages are Azerbaijan, Uzbekhistan, Kazakhistan, etc. But we can only understand Azerbaijani.
We use Latin alphabet since 1928 after the foundation of Turkish Republic. Before we were using Arabic letters and but the language was still Turkish. It's not grammatically similar to Arabic at all. But there are a lot of words borrowed from Arabic and Persian.
Can you write my name in your language?
See question 1.
What's the capital city?
Which currency do you use?
Turkish Lira
Are you in Europe or Middle East?
Neither, we are just in the middle. We have a small land in European continent. The rest is Anatolia which is a peninsula surrounded by mediterranean, black sea and marmara sea.
Is European side of Istanbul any different than Asian side?
Not at all
Do you want to join the EU?
Depends. But nobody would say no if EU invites Turkey. The problem is noone anymore believes that we will enter, unless there are some extra-ordinary conditions.
Are you Arabic / Do you feel Arabic?
No. We come from completely different routes (Central Asia). But we lived together for centuries with a lot of cultures in Middle East as well as Balkans. Hence we share a lot in common with all of them.
Are you European? / Do you feel European?
Are you European? / Do you feel European?
Again, we come from completely different routes. But there are people who define themselves like that (I call it "wannabe" European), there are people who don't.
You don't look like Turkish??!?
Again, we were living together with a lot of different nations, hence there is no single type of stereotype. Moreover Turkey is a really big country and have neighbours from many different kinds of people (in terms of appearance).
Hence the people in the west, east, north, south, center do not look the same.
Do you have camels/deserts in Turkey?
No, not even close.
Does it snow in Turkey?
Yes. Except the very south where it rarely snows. We have very cold winters (as cold as central europe) especially in the center and the east due to the high altitude.
Do you eat kebab all the time?
No, we don't make kebap at home! Like everything else, our cuisine is a mixture of mediterranean, middle east, balkans and central asia.
Do you eat very spicy?
Depends. In the south east people eat quite spicy food and mostly meat. In the west coast people like vegetables with a lot of olive oil, in the north fish is very common and in the center usage of dough.
What are you going to buy your parents for Xmas? =)
We dont have Xmas. (Special thanks to Carlos here ;)
Do you have to go to military?
Unfortunately yes. Men have to go to military service. It's 15 months for high school degrees. 5 or 12 months for university degrees (u cannot choose which). You can postpone it while you are studying bachelor, masters or phd. If you work abroad for 3 years you can pay about 12000 euros and not go to military at all.
Can you marry more than 1 woman?
No. It's forbidden. We have a secular state. Actually our first civil code was simply a copy/paste from Switzerland. PS: Nobody wants that anyway.
Do you get married in the mosque?
No. There is no such thing.
Do women wear burka in Turkey?
No, the one that covers the whole face and eyes does not exist at all (maybe 0.1%).
Do you get married in the mosque?
No. There is no such thing.
Do women wear burka in Turkey?
No, the one that covers the whole face and eyes does not exist at all (maybe 0.1%).
