By DuDu factor.......

 Lady in Red you be  taunting meee  now!!!

 It all comes together.  http://www.turkishclass.com/forumTitle_36466

Yes I ran into that kind of people personally. I had received some business e-mails from USA that they thought we speak Arabic in Turkey and use Arabic alphabet when we were working on a customisation of a software package for Turkish language. I needed to let them know that that was not the case at all. They apologized but anyway there should be many likes of that kind of people in USA.

I live in US and am half Turkish. People ask me: if I am a Muslim, if I was "supposed to" marry a Turk, isn´t Turkey in the Middle East, am I proud of a heritage of "harems", why don´t I cover myself if I am Muslim, do I speak the same language as the people in Iraq,why did "Mohammed" marry a young girl and have so many wives, etc., etc., etc.  

But then some of them think I live on an island too! (I live in Alaska.)

what is wrong with these questions? at least you have a chance to share your knowledge about turkey, of course, if you yourself know much enough.

- are you then not a muslim? i suspect your father is a turk.

- well, most turkish women are supposed to marry turks or at least muslims ( the reason is understandable, but unacceptable to me)

- turkey is neighbouring with middle east. so is this a wrong question?

- are you not proud of harems? some turks are proud of them. they say that many non-turkish girls dreamed of getting in harems.

- if you are a muslim (this question makes it clear that you admitted that you are a muslim) why dont you cover yourself?

- it is possible that you could speak the languages of neighbouring countries. is this a wrong question?

- yes, why did mohammad marry a little girl? why? doesnt this question kill you? would you love to get married at age of 6?

- why did he marry so many wives? doesnt it sound to you weird?

i suppose you yourself cant answer most of the questions, then why complain about those who ask them?

btw, thanks to internet many people have an access to info that in the past would be located only in libraries or universities or simply were hidden. and the reason of them asking you such question makes it clear that they have read it somewhere in the internet before they asked you. and possibly they were rather trying to find a confirmation to their sources.

if i met you i would be asking almost the same questions although i know bits and pieces, but thats how i start a contact.

do turks know everything about other countries? im 100% sure if i conduct a similar survey in turkey i would get pretty the same result or even worse.

I have no idea why people from other countries should know Turkish history? It is not a world-power country, it´s just a nice holiday location with delicious cuisine. Of course I knew where Turkey was before I went there (geography at school taught me that) but the only thing I knew about its history was the history of Constantinople and the battle of Vienna. Also we had some basic info about the Ottoman Empire in primary school but I hardly remembered it. I had no idea who Ataturk was - why should I? I doubt Turks know Polish leaders (aprat from the international ones - Maria Sklodowaska-Curie, Copernicus or Lech Walesa).

and dobrowski, of course

yeap, whoever that was The only Wikipedia entry for Dobrowski goes:

Jody Dobrowski (27 July 1981 - October 14 2005) was a 24-year old assistant bar manager who was murdered on Clapham Common in south London. On October 14, at around midnight, he was beaten to death with punches and kicks by two men who perceived him to be gay. Tests carried out at St. George´s Hospital in Tooting, South London revealed Dobrowski had a swollen brain, broken nose and extensive bruising to his neck, spine and groin. His family were unable to identify him due to his face being so badly disfigured and he had to be identified by fingerprints.