Learn The Truth

What is the purpose of this page ?
Please click on the question lines and find out about the answers.
These questions are asked us during or before our tours. At this page we will try to answer all these common questions in order to help you and your will learn the truth about Turkey.

Please note that these answers are mainly our personal ideas so they may due to change with other locals that your speak with.
Why do we see Atatürks photos every where and why he is very important ?
The answer of this question can be a full day conversation subject and I prefer to discuss this during our lunch breaks at our tours. But I will give you some topics.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is very important for us because he created a free Turkish nation out of its ashes. He succeeded our independance war agains all allied forces after WWI and sacked the Ottoman Sultan and built todays modern Turkish Republic.
He did not stoped after this and continued to improve Turkey with he challanging revolutions. He calles his biggest revolution as the Turkish Republic.
He is the founder of Turkish Republic and the first president of Turkey.
He has been a real hero for our country that is why you can see him every where in Turkey.
What is the difference between a tour leader and licensed tour guide ?
Tour leaders are normally selected from English speaking young locals(eg.Students) in order to assist you during any occasions on your tour as well as reducing the cost of the tour. They also help you with some general information about the areas.Tour leaders are not trained with the historical,cultural,religious and mythological information so please do not expect them to provide you a detailed information about historical sites.

Tour Guides are proffesionaly trained people.They are all licensed by the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry. They either completed a tough education of 6 months courses or a min. 2-4 years university degree. Tour Guides are full of all kinds of information that a tourist may ask about the visited sites such as historical background, geographical knowledge, cultural & international customs.

Editors advice: If you would like to learn about Turkey alwasy ask for a licensed tour guides.
Do we have to wear scarf in Turkey / in Mosques?
This is a very common question asked by our female guests.
There is no strict rule in Turkey to determine the dressing of ladies. People are free to dressed according to their fashion likes and traditions. Especial in big cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya... Turkish people are dressed in a very modern way you will easily notice this as soon as you arrive the city.
But also while you travel the country site you will again notice that this dressing is changing according to traditions and village life where it could be quiet conservative. So in these cases regular clothings such as jeans , t-shirts will be more prefered than mini skirts and tiny tops.
The situation does not change for the mosques as well. If you are visiting a mosque in Istanbul you will be provided a scarf at the entrance but if your are going to enter a mosque in country site it will be better to have for your own.
Are all the restaurants closed during the Ramadan ?
In big cities nearly all the retaurants and shops are open during the Ramadan. Also for the country side if you are travelling to the the areas such as Cappadocia, Ephesus, Gallipoli etc.. these areas are touristy areas so the restaurants in those places will be open to. Only non-touristy villages or towns you may have some difficulties.
Do I need a Visa to enter Turkey ?

Most nationalities do require a visa to enter to Turkey. However in most cases a visa can be obtained at the port of entry to the country. For further official information you may visit the web site link provided below.

http://www.turkishconsulate.org.uk/en/visa.htm#touristvisaforall