Merhaba,

A Turkish friend who I met yesterday told me 2 names in Turkish that describe a friend who is like brother to someone. Unfortunately I forgot the first word and the other one sounded like tanka/panka/hanka.. I´m not sure. Which words are possible in such use? I´m only sure it wasn´t any of the popular words like arkadaş or dost.

kanka

The other word you forgot is probably abi (older brother), which is a colloquial shortening from the original ağabey

This is used as a sign of respect by males (and females) to males of a similar age.

birader

Dost

  (sorry -just noticed you said that one)     

Bet you all, that I win guys !

As someone has already said, it is "kanka" which has a meaning

like "dude" in Turkish.

You can also say "kanki."

The other word might be "panpa" which is the same as "kanka"

only slightly more informal and a little humorous.

Cheers!

Panpa and kanka are not similar or identical words

Kanka is short for "Kan kardeşi"....meaning "blood brother"