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Turkey A Bridge between Europe and Asia
Posted on 25.02.2005 13:38
Turkey A Bridge between Europe and Asia
Hi All,
Let me introduce you the one of the most popular holiday destinations of the meditteranean sea. Yes, you are right.. it is Turkey. (Sometimes we prefer to call it "Turkiye", because of the other meaning of the English word "Turkey" 
That should be a bad joke of the English people, when they decided to name our country..
Turkey is a Secular-Republic founded in 1923 by the revolutionist Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( http://www.ataturk.org/index2.html ). The vast majority of the population is Muslim. (%99 as claimed by some authorities) but because of the strictly secular structure of the government and because of the own-Turkish interpretation of the Muslim religion, Turkey tends to look like a more European country than an Arabic country which is governed under Religion rules.
Turkish is the language spoken in Turkey. It is also the official language of the country. Turkish has nothing to do with the Arabic language, as most people at first glance may think. Turkish languge originates from Middle-Asia and it is close relative of the languages spoken in Azerbaijan, Tuerkmenistan, Kirgizistan, Tacikistan and Uezbekistan. (Mutual understanding is possible esspecially with Azerbaijani Turkish dialect). If we deeply look into the roots of the language, we can see that languages like Hungarian and Finnish also come from the same family, as Turkish comes from. (Ural-Altaic Language Family. More info: http://home.unilan...Ural-Altaic_languages )
There are also some common Cliches regarding Turkey which are not necessarily correct. Regarding to clarify those questions, I would advise the following web site: http://www.orkun.org/question/
Capital of Turkey is Ankara. It is NOT Istanbul, as many people think. Istanbul is the most-populated and biggest city of Turkey with around 12 million people living there. The other important cities are Izmir, Bursa, Adana, Antalya(quite famous in Germany)
Turkey is a member of NATO since 1952 ( http://www.nato.int/turkey/turkey2.htm ) This joining date is earlier than most of the European countries.
Turkey is planning to join EU as well. Negotiations are supposed to open this year. Turkey is already part of the EU Customs-Union and Turkish citizens are treated differently than the other 3rd country citizens in EU because of the mutual aggrements between EU and Turkey.
If you want more information, please do ask or you can also visit the official web-page prepared by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. ( http://www.turkey.org )
Regards,
Lacrima
lacrima
Member since 14.11.2003
Posted on 25.02.2005 13:42
Re: Turkey A Bridge between Europe and Asia
I see I have competition.
DvD
Member since 30.11.2004
trust7
Member since 23.09.2004
Posted on 25.02.2005 14:37
Re: Turkey A Bridge between Europe and Asia
Hi Ismail,
I didnt mean to offend you with my comments(I assume you are coming from an Arabic country as your name implies). We do have an influence of the Arabic culture. I dont deny that.
But after living in two different countries, I am a bit sick of being confused with Arabic nationals and Turkey's culture with Arabic culture. (Having an influence of another culture does not necessarily mean that own culture does not exist anymore.) Today many countries(including Germany) have the influence of US but they still (try) to keep their own culture.
I have experienced cases where people asked me to translate a speech which was held in Arabic. For god's sake, how can I translate Arabic ? I am from TURKEY. I dont understand Arabic. My mother-tongue is Turkish and Turkish language does not have an influence of the Arabic language which is not more than English language influence. Do you see ? so I have to draw the line stricly to emphasis that I dont speak/understand Arabic(which most people in West think that I should)
You can come up and say, Arabic language has nothing to do with the Turkish language. I would not feel offended and your statement would be the phrasing of the reality.
Regards,
Lacrima
lacrima
Member since 14.11.2003
DvD
Member since 30.11.2004
Posted on 26.02.2005 15:07
Re: Turkey A Bridge between Europe and Asia
@ashka
Hallo Ashka,
Danke für deine Komplimente. Ich habe versucht mein Bestens zu geben, um mein Land besser vorzustellen. Ich bin nicht so lange in Deutschland. Genauer gesagt, bin ich seit 2,5 Jahren hier. Ich bin kein deutsch-Profi und meine Korrekturen sind ohne Garantie. Es kann sein, dass mein Text auch Fehler hat. Ich arbeite auch daran, mein Deutsch zu verbessern. Übrigens bin ich nicht der erste Türke, der über seine Vergangenheit sprechen will.. das tun viele Türken. Wir haben ja in unserer Vergangenheit nichts uns zu schämen. Was ich hier über mein Land erzählt habe ist ja auch kein Geihemnis.
Es gibt ein paar offensichtliche Fehler in deinem Text. Ich werde versuchen die zu korrigieren. Wie immer, gilt unsere Methode zum korrigieren.
Zwischen "()" bedeutet weg, zwischen "**" bedeutet besser.
Hallo lacrima,
es ist ja wunderbar!, du hast dein Land toll beschrieben. Tolle Werbung ,
muss ich sagen. (habe) ich **habe** mich sehr gewundert. Ich hätte nie gedacht, (dass so ein schönes Land die Türken haben) **,dass die Türken so ein schönes Land haben**. Insbesondere interessant war zu erfahren, dass die Türken so(o) tiefe Wurzeln (der) von **der** Sprache und Kultur haben, die in sehr tiefe Vergangenheit gehen sollen, und sogar zu einer Familie gehören müssen. Du bist ja wahrscheinlich der erste Türke(r), der über seine Vergangenheit sprechen will, und das(s) ist gut so…
Da deine (deutsche Sprache) **deutsch Sprachkenntnisse** ein(e) gute**s** Niveau hat (du hast ja ganz gut die Korrekturen durchgeführt), kann ich (mich) **mir** vorstellen, dass du schon lange in Deutschland lebst, und leider **seit** ziemlich lange**r** Zeit in diese**m** wunderschöne**n** Land nicht mehr lebst.
Ich würde dich bitten, meine Grammatik wieder zu korrigieren.
Grüße aus München,
ashka.
lacrima
Member since 14.11.2003
Posted on 27.02.2005 01:42
Re: Turkey A Bridge between Europe and Asia
I would say that the name of the topic does represent reality. we must not forget that Europe needs oil but does not have a direct access to it
although i would not be surprised when the access to oil will be granted in exchange to a lengthty talks about future membership in EU, and - who knows? - can it be that in ten years oil will not be so important as it is now? or that the Europe will find some other way to get it *thinks about Chechenya and the rest of Kaukasus, where Russia seems to lose its positions rapidly*
Btw nice story, thanks a lot
Posted on 28.02.2005 11:30
Re: Turkey A Bridge between Europe and Asia
Hi Lacrima and all,
I find so wonderful that your story has not only been a very comprehensive review about Turkiye and its features, but also it has worked as a bridge between those who want to give a chance to their German knowledge.
In order to eliminate some stereotypes I would like to ask you something: is there any difference between those Turken who have been living here for decades (I don´t know if the right word is Deutsche-Turken) and those who still live in the big cities of Turkiye like Ankara or Istambul. I ask you this because I was taking some lessons of ethno-marketing, and my teacher says there are many differences between both groups. What is your impression after some years being here?
Keep writing
Juliana