Hi I was just wondering what the "usual" Turkish view on divorce is. Is it frowned upon?? I have a Turkish friend who comes from an Alevi background. He married 2 years ago and has a young baby however he is deeply unhappy in his marriage and has decided he wants to divorce. However his family are putting so much pressure on him to stay with his wife even though he does not want to be with her. He says his culture will not accept divorce. Is this really true??? Any views and opinions appreciated

I tend to think most divorces are frowned upon in most cultures. However, in Turkey you do hear about more couples getting divorced. It sounds like your friend is still living with the hopes of his parents approval instead of making decisions he feels is best for him.

I do think however in Turkey it´s a little more difficult and the process is longer than here in the states.

I think in all countries divorce procedures are a bit more complicated than in the States I have a friend in Turkey who is divorced and, to make things better, it was his wife who filed for divorce, not him. Neither of them suffers from social ostracism, they both live normal lives and both have custody over their child. I suppose in case of your friend it is more of family pressure and he should talk to them about it.

as far as i know - divorce is not popular in Turkey.And if family is more traditional, they dont accept even thought about divorcing - as family is the most important in their lives and family values is almost saint.but if your friend is ready to make his own decision and he is not happy - he need to be very very strong.good luck to him!and yes in other countries is more dificult to divorce, not like in States where it is almost like a tradition

The most important thing in Turkey is family. Therefore, more traditional people are, more hard to divorce.

actually, it depends. many factors make it hard to decide such as uneducated family background, social environment. typically if you are an unemployed woman and you have children you can not expect much about making your life better after you have divorced. You can never make generalizations about Turkish way of life but you may sum up it like "if you have money you have every right" or "education solves most of the problems".
Being an individual means being able to take responsibilities I think your friend do not bother trying to be himself like many. Her in Turkey, nobody cares whether you divorce the thing is you must survive after that. If people are able to take care of them instead of depending upon someone else these sort of debates lessen a great deal.

I just looked up Turkish civil law on marriage and divorce and it is not very different from civil law in western european countries (severe catholic ones exempted). You can divorce on "reasonable grounds" (i.e. there is no future in the marriage), and it is possible to separate "in table and bed" before formal divorce.

The social consequences may be formiddable, but if you want divorce, the law is on your side.