Why Does Turkey Get an Unfair Reputation?
What was your first impression of Turkey, before the first time you visited the country? If you have never been, what is your impression of it now? Do you think Turkey gets an unfair reputation?
In the past, it has often been the case that the mind-set aimed towards Turkey was one of negativity, until that person actually visited the country and changed their mind. For me, Turkey was never somewhere I wanted to go; I couldn’t pinpoint why, but I assumed it to be dirty, somewhere under-developed, not that pretty, and somewhere full of waiters who would try and use me for a visa.
For some reason, the opportunity to visit the country came to me out of the blue. It was basically go to Marmaris for a two weeks’ holiday with a friend and her family, or don’t go on a holiday that year at all. I love travelling and I love beaches, so of course I just booked it and went.
I have never looked back since, and I now hold a residency permit for the country.
Basically, my view of Turkey could not have been further from the truth. Turkey is not dirty, it is an exceptionally clean country; Turkey is not under-developed, have you seen Istanbul?; Turkey is not unpretty, it is one of the most breath-taking countries I have ever visited; and Turkey isn’t full of waiters trying to use me for a visa either – yes, there are some, but there are ten times as many that aren’t.
How wrong I was!
Having talked to many people about Turkey as a whole, not just about Istanbul or the south coast beach resorts, I have found two camps – the camp who have never been and have a few negative connotations, and the camp who have been and really enjoyed the place. Basically, it’s a country you need to visit to enjoy, and a country you need to visit in order to kick out preconceptions.
Over the last decade or so, tourism in Turkey has soared, and that is because of low prices and fantastic beach resorts. Over the last few years however, this has gone on to dip, as terrorism across the globe has caused people to feel a little worried about travelling. The fact that Turkey shares a land border with Syria doesn’t help matters, but there is one fact that you need to keep in your mind if that does worry you – Turkey is a huge country. It takes around 26 hours to cross the country from west to east by road, and the tourism resorts are located on the western side, as far away from the trouble as it is possible to get. You also need to bear in mind that terrorism is a global problem, not a Turkish one. Yes, the country has its own internal political problems, but so does every country; look at Spain and it’s Catalan political troubles lately. Does this stop people from going to Barcelona? It certainly doesn’t!
On my travels across the world, I have never met a group of people who were more hospitable and kind than the Turkish. I have been welcomed into the homes of people I have barely met, I have been treated as a member of the family, when I am certainly far from it; I have been fed better than anywhere else on the planet, and I have been helped out of sticky situations by kind strangers. Yes, there are dodgy people in Turkey, but there are dodgy people in Spain, Greece, Italy, the UK, every single country on the planet – this is simply human nature.
So, if you are on the fence about whether to visit Turkey or not, I would urge you to go for it. Just try it once, and I guarantee that your mind-set before your visit will be different to the one you have when you are there, and when you return. I don’t know many people who have only been to Turkey once, as there is a very high return rate. Perhaps you will be like me, and fall so in love with the country that you want to spend more time there; perhaps you will simply want to explore a few times and then try somewhere new, but you certainly won’t have a negative thought on Turkey once you have been.
