[bertanu]

I hear different things about Turks from different parts of the world.

This thread is focused on Turks ABROAD and not in Turkey or Cyprus.

It isn't necessarily about immigrant Turks, it can also be about tourists.
In addition lets try to differentiate between ethnicities of Turks and Kurds.

My own personal view is this:

Turks in the UK, Australia and America are the better educated, open minded, less religious Turks. The reasons for this is usually because they emigrated to the UK, Australia and the USA through their own financial means and were economically well off enough to invest in the UK/Australia/USA whilst being modern/cultured enough to integrate successfully.
Their kids have integrated well and feel a part of their host culture, as well as holding onto some Turkish culture.
I Also think it is fair to say that most of the above Turks were from cities and not villages, that they weren't very religious, the Cypriots especially were very easy to integrate due to their long history with the Brits.

Photos of British Turks:


















When it comes to Turks in Germany/Holland/Belgium and the like, basically the "Guest worker" Turks, we have a mixed bag.
Generally the Turks are from rural parts of Turkey, less educated, more conservative, religious and ignorant towards Western culture.
They have held onto their old values and traditions and are stricter than the previous group of Turks (UK/USA/AU) A lot of the younger 3rd/4th generation are still more attached to Turkey than their host nation a lot of them only mix with other Turks, the non Turks are referred to as "Gavurs" a derogatory term for non Muslims.


Just a final note, in the 1980s Kurdish refugees started coming into the UK, many of them were from villages, and very religious backwards areas, they brought with them: honour killings, arranged marriages, inbred marriages etc...
Many of them (not all) refer to themselves as Turkish, when they first meet a non Turk, and only disclose they are Kurdish after they get to know them. I don't know why they do this.


Anyway, so if there are Turks in your town. please share your view on them.


( I only posted Brit Turks as thats where I am from, if anyone wants to post different photos feel free)

I want to say thank you to the person that gave me this idea for the thread

---------- Post added 2012-04-07 at 00:59 ----------

Just for the record:

Turks in the United Kingdom or British Turks are Turkish people who have immigrated to the United Kingdom. However, the term may also refer to British-born persons who have Turkish parents or who have a Turkish ancestral background.
Turks first began to emigrate in large numbers from the island of Cyprus for work and then again when Turkish Cypriots were forced to leave their homes during the Cyprus conflict. Turks then began to come from Turkey for economic reasons. Recently, smaller groups of Turks have begun to immigrate to the United Kingdom from other European countries.[4]
As of 2011, there is a total of about 500,000 people of Turkish origin in the UK,[5] made up of approximately 150,000 Turkish nationals and about 300,000 Turkish Cypriots.[3] Furthermore, in recent years, there has been a growing number of ethnic Turks with Algerian, Bulgarian, German, Greek, Macedonian, and Romanian citizenship who have also migrated to the United Kingdom.[3][6] The majority live in London.