Do's & Dont's of the Turkish People

❁ Assalamualaikum ❁

Hi everyone! This time around, I would like to share some of the information that I get about the Turkish's belief. As for the general view, culture means a cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meaning, hierarchies, religion and so on. Basically culture is the system of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people, or we call it as 'society'. One particular society is living under one particular culture and it can be traced based on their way of life with the group of people that they are living. We can observe them through their behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they are practicing and this kind of culture in a particular place usually will be followed by the next generation. As we already know, our world consists of numerous of countries and each countries practice different cultures, thus it is make a complete statement of different culture means different belief that they accept. 

As for you general knowledge, there is two types of people in this world when we touch about culture. The first type of people is containing 'cultural relativism' sense in themselves. Cultural relativism means we are being open-minded and we accept the other culture even though it is way too differ with what we belief and practiced. This is the thing that we become empathy, which means we put ourselves in their shoes. We understand them and we don't judge the other culture. The second type of people is practicing 'ethnocentrism' sense. Ethnocentrism means that when we think our culture is better than the other culture. In this case, we only narrow our mind to our one specific culture that we are living and never consider about other culture. This kind of ethnocentrism usually judge the other culture and sometimes they underestimate the other culture and belief as they think that their culture is superior than any other cultures. 

Hehe my introduction about this entry is quite long. It is because I am happy to share with you guys some of the knowledge that I get during my Sociology class and I think that what I've been taught could be more helpful for me to write this entry which is about the Turkish's culture and belief. So without further due, let's start looking deep into Turkish's kind of beliefs. 

Let's talk about the taboo in Turkey that you shouldn't break. Or even you are not practicing that kind of belief, you still need to know so that when you pay a visit to Turkey, you will somehow can easily adapt and comfort yourselves :)

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Mosques

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

All the tourist are very much welcomed to visit any mosques in Turkey but they have to follow the rules and regulation as they are touring there. If the tourist can't respect the religion's belief there, they will be punished sternly. Similar to any other mosque in the world, women must wear headscarves inside the mosque and every visitors must remove their shoes to go inside. The best idea is to cover up appropriately and always being respectful to the religion throughout your tour in Turkey. By doing so, you will get to see many amazing religious artwork and fine tile work in the entire world. 

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Hand Signs  

Pointing hand gesture is considered too rude in Turkey

Commonly the Turkish youngster are going to be offended if they see a tourist make a silly hand gesture. They might don't understand the actual meaning of the tourist or what they understand is differ from what they have been taught. However, the Turkish older generation sometimes don't take it seriously on the other tourist when they are making any hand gestures. One of the sign is pointing finger. Well, pointing at people is considered too rude in Turkey compared to in Western Europe. Plus, doing the "OK" sign is even worse because it is considered as a homophobic insult.

To make things simple, I have made a table for you guys to see a clearer view on the do's and dont's in Turkey:

Do’s ✓	Don’ts ✗
Do try to eat everything on your plate when served food. It may be offensive if you don’t	Don’t show disrespect for the name or image of Mustafa Kemal Artatuk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, or insult the Turkish government, flag, or military
Do place your fork and knife together on your plate to signify your are done with your meal	Don’t point at people with your finger, or give “OK” sign, as both are considered rude
Do pay for the meal if you extended the invitation. It is not usual to spilt meals in Turkey. If someone invites you to a meal, invite them to one later	Don’t show the bottoms of your feet, as this is considered an insult
Do keep eye contact with those you are speaking with. Turkish see eye contact as a sign of honesty	Don’t stand with your hands on your hips or in your pockets
Do be punctual for meetings and events	Don’t eat with your left hand, as the left hand is considered unclean in Muslim culture
Do give flowers as a gift, such as roses or carnations	Don’t give alcohol as a gift, as drinking is not as common among the Turkish
	Don’t be offended by others smoking at a meal, because it is common to do so in Turkey

 

So I guess that's all the information of the do's and dont's of the Turkish that I get to share with you guys.  I really hope that with this info will benefits to you, if you're not even going to Turkey, at least you know what are the things practices and believed in that country. As usual, if you have anything to ask or any unclear information, you can kindly place your question in the comment box below. Thank you so much for reading! Till then, bye people ☺