Language:

Spoken over large geographical area in Europe and Asia.

Ancient language; 5500-8500 years back
It has a phonetic, morphological and syntactic structure
Possesses a rich vocabulary
The mixing of Turkish with foreign words in poetry and science did not last forever.
foreign terms dominated written texts
some Turkish words disappeared altogether from the written language
Turkish has several dialects.
Western dialects and Eastern dialects.
The history of the language is divided into three main groups, old Turkish (from the 7th to the 13th
centuries), mid-Turkish (from the 13th to the 20th) and new Turkish from the 20th century
onwards.
Turkish has 8 vowels, and 21 consonants.

Culture:

Folk dances of Izmir

Architecture:
oldest mosque within the borders of Turkey is the Ulu Cami (Great Mosque) of

Diyarbakir
Other early great mosques are in Urfa, Cizre, Silvan, Mardin, Kiziltepe, Bitlis, Harput,
Niksar, and Kayseri
Of the earlier great palaces of Ottoman sultans, only Topkapi palace and some kiosks
remain. The Edirne Palace, second only to Topkapi, was destroyed in the 19th century.
European styles influenced the Ottoman architecture after the second half of the
nineteenth century. The palace of Dolmabahce, Beylerbeyi, Ciragan are such examples
of European influence.

 MOST TURKISH PEOPLE ARE MUSLIMS, BUT TURKEY IS NOT

A MUSLIM COUNTRY

Turkey is the only secular muslim country in the world.

Even though most of the population consider themselves to be muslims, in general they
dont follow the rules of Islam very strickly. More than half of the Turkish people go out,
drink alcohol and socialize with one and another in ways that are usually considered as a
sin in Islam.

The religion is more of a cultural thing in Turkey, especially amongst the young generation. People believe in the
religion and they would get angry if their religion was critisized in front of them, but only a VERY SMALL percentage
of the population would go and join protests for religion-related issues.

TURKEY IS NOT A CHEAP COUNTRY.

We have heard from many people that they had expected Turkey to be a much cheaper country
before they came here. The food, entrance fees to museums, transportation, alcohol, gas, etc.
We hope you dont make the same mistake. Turkey is NOT cheap at all. A few examples:
Turkish people pay for the most expensive gas in the world. It is more than $10 a gallon in
2015 There are more than %400 taxes on alcohol, so be prepared. Museums are expensive,
usually between 5 to 10 Euros a museum. The food is generally not super expensive, but not
too cheap either.