I remember meeting my husband's family the first time. We were both nervous as I am very outspoken and am prone to laughing hysterically when I am uncomfortable. Thank god my husbands family is very down to earth because I was a disaster as far as Turkish etiquette is concerned! My mother is Italian and we have a HUGE Italian family. I am used to just grabbing people and hugging them and kissing them on both cheeks (of course with a big MUAHHHHH sound too). Of course, when I arrived, my husband introduced me to his parents first. I was so nervous I forgot my Turkish manners of kissing the hands, touching the hand to my forehead....I greeted them both with a HUGE hug, kisses to both cheeks and a BIG MUAHHHH!! It was very quiet for a moment, my future husband looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock. Then all of a sudden, to my utter SHOCK, his mother grabbed me by the hand and pulled me into the house. She took me to her kitchen and put me to work...which I later found out was a show of confidence in my ability to cook...a compliment. She later told my husband that she loved me because I was not so formal and she loved that I knew how to prepare some of the classic mediteranean dishes.

Turkish families are as different as any other culture. There is no way to guess whether they will like you or not. I just think it is better to be yourself. Most people can see when you are pretending to be something you are not. BUT DO DRESS CONSERVATIVELY. That is just respectful and should be done in any culture.