I want to make a comment about the racist abuse that frequently goes on in the chat room – always by the same 2 or 3 people who I could name but don't think I need to as I am sure most people know who they are. I think we non-Turks are quite aware of Turkish feelings toward the PKK (for which they have very good reasons) but does this give these people the right to verbally attack any Kurdish person who happens to venture onto the site? Quite obviously I don't have enough Turkish to follow everything that's said but the vitriolic nature of the comments is obvious - even to someone with a minimal grasp of the Turkish language – and many comments are made in English so leave us in no doubt as to what is going on.

I don’t know how many people witnessed last night's confrontation – as I did – from outside the chat room. This seemed to be more of a two-way 'discussion' than usual but soon got totally out of control until the intervention of two of the more obviously intelligent and certainly less belligerent members of TC calmed the situation down a bit. Politics and religion are supposedly no-go areas in TC and posts in the forums have been removed and members given warnings for this reason – so why are they deemed acceptable in the chat room? I think admin and the moderators need to keep a closer eye on what goes on in there.

We are supposed to have freedom of speech in the UK but if anyone was heard to verbally abuse a member of another ethnic group in this way they could face serious consequences. For many years the UK was under attack from the IRA and recently from Muslim extremist terrorists – however no right-thinking person is going to abuse every Irish or Muslim person they come across as a 'bomber' or 'terrorist'. Yet, seemingly, to some Turks, every member of the Kurdish race is seen as a terrorist or terrorist sympathizer although not all of them make their feelings quite so clear in quite such an unpleasant way. If you question this attitude the answer is usually 'You're not Turkish - you wouldn't understand'.

Well okay, I'm not and maybe I don't but if these people want a platform for racial abuse and harassment could they please find it somewhere else and not on this site which – in case they’ve forgotten - is supposed to be for people who want to improve their LANGUAGE skills and would maybe also like to enjoy a pleasant multi-national chat from time to time without feeling they are in the middle of a race war.

+ 100000 etc. Lady in Red, you said it so well!

I was watching as well and I witnessed it!

I couldn't agree with you more LIR! Nor could I have expressed it so well. I have witnessed many ugly conversations in the chat room too, not just racism but disgusting 'chat' about other TC members here too.

It needs close moderating...

When you see such conversations in the chat room, please copy the conversation text in the chat room and send it to me in a private message or through the contact page.

Conversations in the chat room are not stored in the system, so I can't go back and look at past conversations. Please report to me any abuse of the chat room or the website in general. Racism will definitely not be tolerated.

I also missed last nights racial argument but nevertheless I have seen my fair share and also been attacked too. All I can say is that I agree with LIR 100%!!!
Quite frankly it's rediculous!

Also when people talk in another languages other than English or Turkish please can they not be shouted at for it.

e.g.
"THIS IS A TURKISH WEBSITE LOOK ABOVE OR ARE YOU BLIND!?!"

Yes it is true, this is a Turkish website for learning Turkish or even Turks use it for learning English but there are other nationalities trying to learn these languages as well!
In chat there have been Spanish, Polish, Russians, Hungarians, English, Turkish, Arabs etc and they have all had conversation with others in their 1st language not just from the two nationalities (English and Turkish) and some people find it easier to learn another language whilst studying it in their own, not through another foreign language!
Dilara (I think) was helping Spanish people learn Turkish (had a forum on it) because it was easier for them to understand it and she got great thanks for it because it helped them a lot. So yes it may be a Turkish learning class but come on! people are learning it from different languages!

I too witnessed this argument- if you can call it that - it was more a slanging match, the people involved may find this amusing and entertaining but i certainly do not. It spoils the pleasure of using this site.
I agree completely with the comments made by LIR (well said). Get these idiots off this site, so it can be used and enjoyed by us normal people.

Congratulations, gilly! This is your first post! So, welcome to TC!

Lady in red, my respect!
You said it so well!