Hi i live in Fethiye. Today as me and my husband were walking along we passed a wedding. There were two men playing drums and two playing flutes/whistle type instraments. As we approched one of the drumers walked upto us asking for money.
Is it custom to give money to them or were they just trying it on as we are English?
Thanks

If u had an invitation from the people getting married,yes u have to give just some money.I mean something like 1 New Turkish Lira.Its tradition...

But if u are just passing the road,no need to give money

Is it ok?

I went to a turkish wedding - it was great, we all lined up at the end and pinned our wedding gifts of money to the brides dress and then as we passed we got little gifts of biscuits and sweets all wrapped up like the 'favours' we have at English weddings. it was very nice. The girls all got together and did a special dance which involved dancing around with a jug of some description (as I recall)

Thanks x-man

hes it is tradition to give some money.

I disagree. They shouldnt ask for money from a stranger.

This certainly was rude by the musicians. I personally wouldnt give any money in this situation. After all I'm just passing by, right?

Many of the street musicians in Türkiye are Gypsies who neither know about traditions nor are very polite.

If they insist I would say "Allah versin" (God shall help you) or I would give the smallest money possinle, 5 Kuruş.

In general there is no Turkish tradion in which you give something when asked. In all tradions we got you can give something (including money) as a gift if it comes from your heart.

Erdinc,they ask about wedding not gypsies on the road...

Yes I know. I thought it was a wedding of local villagers of Fethiye. If thats the case it is possible that the gypsies (roman) were playing in the wedding.
But it is also possible it was only davul and zurna played by local farmers.

I was in Antalya last week and there was a wedding. A guy was trying to stop various cars. I asked my friend (turkish) what he wanted and he told me he was trying to get some money as it was a wedding. We drove on withut stopping!

Laura

if its kids i cant walk by although its probably their parents that have sent them out on the streets anyway, fortunately where i live there arnt too many child beggers on the street but when i have been in turkey i have always given to the kids i cant bare the thought of children going without and to me it may only be a pound or two but for them it is a fortune ,maybe i am just a bit of a softy at heart

I would have to give if it was a child....it would play on my mind, and I would be wondering if the money was for food for that night. It would be very hard to walk away from that.

yeah but what about the ones who sit there with like, 1 limb...? :S

i now can clearly understand why ceyda choose a turkısh guy.....cheap and free holiday in turkey....nice...she is wise...hahahaha

YOKKKKK

If you want to give - give
If you don't - don't

You shouldn't feel pressured and you shouldn't feel guilty.

I always think that for every 3 false beggars there is probably 1 needy one - 1 out of 3 isn't bad is it?

in my country we give money in wedding instead of flower or other gifts, even its written clearly on the invitation card that they will appreciate it if u give money better than other things.

i only give money to beggar if i have extra money , eg. when my parents (surprisingly) give me money or when i got bonus from office or when my overtime is paid. the more u give the more u get, is true...once i sent money to my lil bro and next day i got 2x from office

here...some beggars -kids- r organized by a fat (real fat) woman watching them in the corner of the street.

Very sad, hard life for some little kids...

Makes me feel bad - and

the poor little child wasnt even begging.. she was selling these really cute tissues... im gonna burn in hell for that... damn me...

When I was in Izmir once in the winter, there was a really old lady sitting in the snow on just a thin blanket begging, she must have been 80 years old. i gave her YTL20. My friend went mad. He said that she was rich and had more money than we did, because he had seen people like her on TV.

I said that even if that were true, she deserved the money just for sitting there freezing her a*** off in the snow.

I asked him why he believed everything on TV, and he said 'why not?' - I think the authorities say these things to stop themselves feeling guilty about the fact that social care is so bad in Turkey that 80 year olds have to sit in the snow begging!

Maybe she should get a job heh? 80 years old - Let's see what could she do....hmmm...all suggestions welcome!

Begging is a job like anything else, if you get an income and suffer in some way for it. I don't think little kids should do anything at all but play games and go to school. I don't think old people should do anything but eat, drink, be warm, have someone to love them and anything else they feel like!