Since the founding of the republic in 1923 as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has been secular and Kemalist in orientation. The country's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, initiated a modernization of Turkey through social and legal reforms modelled on various European nation states.
The current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been at the helm of the country since 2003. Since around 2012, he has led the country in an increasingly authoritarian manner. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press in particular are considered to be severely restricted. The currency and debt crisis triggered by its economic policies as well as high inflation have continued since 2018, which makes Turkey quite attractive from a tourist perspective.
The culture of today's Turkey is a fusion of the ancient Turkish nomadic culture of Central Asia and Siberia, the Greco-Roman era, the culture in the Ottoman Empire with its Byzantine, Persian, Arabic, Caucasian, Armenian and Kurdish influences, as well as the strong European direction since the founding of the Republic Ataturk. The cultural centre of the country is the metropolis of Istanbul.
With the political changes, the content of Turkish literature also changed. Early representatives include Fakir Baykurt, Sabahattin Ali, Sait Faik Abasıyanık and Yaşar Kemal, who put ordinary people at the centre of their work. With the turn to describing living conditions, social and political criticism of the state is inevitable. The state reacts with censorship and political violence. Authors like Nâzım Hikmet, Yaşar Kemal and Aziz Nesin spend many years in Turkish prisons because of the persecution of their publications. Kemal therefore referred to the prison as a “school of Turkish literature”.
Turkish cuisine has also influenced Greek and the rest of the Balkan cuisine - including etymology. For example, tzaziki comes from the Turkish cacık, and Ćevapčići comes from kabapcik. Yogurt also comes from Turkish Yoğurt. Doner kebab is made from beef, veal or poultry. In Turkey, but also in other countries, the kebab is also served on a plate.
Just a few days ago we pointed out the changed rules for using the few Turkish motorways that have been technically modernized from the KGS system (rechargeable card) to the HGS system and have therefore initially caused problems for some motorway users.
During our last stay in Switzerland we had already considered using the car for the next return trip to Turkey, just to test the route and border crossings and perhaps also to refute one or the other prejudice of rip-offs during the tour and prices to explore for toll and diesel yourself.
European people who come to Turkey to spend their holidays over here, are allowed to bring their car, campervan, mini-bus or motorcycle into Turkey for at least 6 months within a one year period. After this period of 6 months, the car needs to leave Turkey.
British or Irish Citizens who are not staying in Turkey for more than three months need their passport for entry into Turkey. In addition, they will need to purchase a visa, currently costing £10 sterling. If you need more detailed information:
Until couple of years ago, the most common cars on the streets in Turkey have been Tofas, a product of Fiat, which have been produced in Turkey under license of the Italian firm. The bestseller was the Sahin,which is the original Fiat 131 and which is still available in Turkey today.
After the introduction of cross-border agreements between the European countries by the EC, the amount of goods allowed to be brought into these countries from non "EC" countries are standard.
Once arrived in Turkey the question how to reach another town or place may appear suddenly. It is not the railway which is the basic transport media like in Europe. In Turkey people use an excellent bus system which is comparable to the American Greyhound system.
A really interesting adventure is a trip they call the Blue Journey. At some harbours you can book a journey as a member of a small team for a weeks cruise along the coast. In this way you learn about life on a boat aswell as a lot about people and the sights. Offers like this are also available in the internet.
Hiring a car in Turkey is a great way to go off the beaten track to really see this beautiful country. Using a car to tour region by region, you can go where you want, when you want, getting to the most out-of the-way places which are difficult to reach on public transport.
An Apartment Hotel (also ApartHotel, Apart Hotel and Apart-Hotel) is a type of accommodation, described as "a serviced apartment complex that uses a hotel style booking system". It is similar to renting an apartment, but with no fixed contracts and occupants can 'check-out' whenever they wish.
Forget Turkey's teeming resorts. Here are 10 crowd-free beaches, from hidden bays to pristine secluded coves. If a summer holiday in Turkey makes you think of crowded beaches and heaving resorts, think again.
Apart from the huge harbours of Izmir and Istanbul there are small and medium sized harbours in most of the villages along the coast which can be used by yachts and all types of boats.
Holidays at the beach - lonely mountains and lakes - relics from thousands of years of history. From the North to the South the roads lead across the forest-covered Taurus Mountains from the Black Sea, across the huge Anatolian steppes and the lunar landscape of Cappadocia, before reaching the beaches of the southern Mediterranean coast.
Lots of big travel companies and their special offers to Turkey are well known through radio and TV advertisements. Most of them prefer to put their effort into mass tourism using big hotels with an all-inclusive service.
Guesthouse or Pension are accommodations offer limited service but less expensive than a full-service hotels. They are a type of accommodation that is mostly operated by family-run companies.
The classification of hotels is a great chance for all accommodation companies to show their detailed offers to the customer and, with the help of this list, to develop their business. People from all over theworld ask for an honest list of criteria to find suitable hotels for their next holiday or even for business reasons, especially middle-class enterprises in the hotel business.
In general the regulations for all types of car insurances are like those in Europe. The titles are compulsory car insurance, comprehensive automobile insurance and services.
Couple of our readers were asking if we can organise trips to some of the famous sights and so we decided together with some of our partners (Kizkalesi - Reisen Travel agency, the magazine Merhaba Akdeniz, Alditours Travel agency) to set up a first readers trip leading to Mount Nemrut.
Meanwhile completed - despite multi-layered, long-lasting protests: For several weeks, heavy machinery has been working on the foundations of the new bridge on the Bosporus,
The geo-strategically favourable location between the three large economic blocks Asia, Europe and Russia makes Turkey one of the most important international transport hubs in the world.