I have found a Hungarian-Turkish website!

http://www.turkinfo.hu/index.php

I have never thought such sites exist on the net. So I am happy now.

What I could hardly accept in Turkey that I couldn´t know the exact price of stuffs. I don´t like bargaining about prices. The salers were extremely friendly in the bazaars and I was surprised that they knew some Hungarian phrases to entertain us. But they were not fierce at all. Everybody must handle them somehow, because such cases can happen eveywhere, so if you don´t plan to buy something, then tell them firmly. And I tried to say some Turkish words as well for which they were grateful.

Istanbul was full of policemen. I know they are protecting the tourists, but it was a bit strange to see so many there. I could see their commando uniform too with plexi shields, because there were Kurdish protest somewhere on the streets.

What about the women? Maybe we were afraid of being insultated, but there were not such cases. They looked them of course, but there were so many chadorless women on the streets, that our trip-mates were only some of them. And I can´t blame the local guys, because there is a proverb in Hungarian language : "I choosed allegiance, not blindness." 

When I booked my bus trip to Balkan, my relatives were worried about me. But I wanted to see and feel Turkey with my own eyes. My final conclusions are that they were politer, friendlier than Greeks or Bulgarians. There are some basic rules which must be kept. It is a shame that so many Christian visitor don´t know anything about mosques, the Muslim faith. So the first shock was for them, when they had to put down the slippers and sandals at the entrance door. I was bit angry, because our guide could have talked about this basic requirments on the bus... My other nightmare became true when we stayed at the center of the Great Mosque of Bursa, while the imam began to call the believers to prey at afternoon. Males were in the front of us, while the women stayed behind us. Then our Hungarian guide translated and yelled every sentence what our Turkish guide had said. I wished we should leave the mosque. And do you know what has happened? They began to make photos about locals (even about preying women in the sacred temples). I was so angry, because they crossed a very important cultural line. I was so ashamed because of my group. As we left the mosque, some locals asked from which country did we come from? They were a bit disappointed, but they smiled after we told them we are from Hungary (Macaristan). After this terrible cultural gathering we visited the Green Mosque too, where some member of my group asked whether they had to do it again or not? Bah...  I could not find words ...

They were a bit strange in Istanbul, because they were interested only in the bazaar or the harem (Top kapı palace)....

It wasn´t a debate. I have told my experiences. I visit sometimes "the friends of Turkey" forum on a Hungarian blog, but there are almost only Hungarian women who talks about their Turkish / Arabian boyfriend or husband. I could find positive and negative opinions of course, but there were very few non-Turkish male - Turkish woman couple. So this was the reason why I asked whether the prevalence is similar in Turkey too?

Michael007: But not every man is fortune hunter... There must be some Turkish guys, who don´t love only for your money or your visa.

Vineyards: I have spoken about the general picture about a Muslim-Christian mixed couple or marriage in a Christian community. So local guys like "exotic" girls, but I doubt they will ever marry them because of the culture and different religion... But nothing can be only black or white, so it depends on the two people and how can they give up some expectations.  

But how many Western woman want to keep virginity until marriage? It is not a shame at all. But I think it is non-sense that a relative can kill a woman with authorization, because she has enjoyed life previously... How can a patriarchal society be selfish? If she is not pregnant then how cares? And is it good for having a virgin bride instead of an "experienced" one? Maybe this will save their marriage in the future... But I have forgotten divorce is not preferred either. :S

I could experience that Turkish, Syrian, Arabian or Persian men work here. They have bronze skin, maybe they are good looking. The Hungarian ladies like mediterran partners, but I must tell you our media doesn´t show good picture about you at all. I could find some couple who live happily together in Hungary and in Turkey too. Very few percentage of ladies can accept Muslim partners, because they are influenced negatively (like terrorist attacks, old traditions or  "Not without my daughter" type movies).  There were really some cases where the couple couldn´t decide where their common child must stay after the divorce... But I could chat some of them, who have Turkish or Persian male partner and they told me they are sensitive, clean, honest men and they are better than even the locals guys. But there were such examples too, that her husband seemed to be a very modern thinking guy, but as soon as they visited his relatives he returned to the old attitude (for example they began to hit theirs wives or to humliate them).

And these are warning signs for every Christian guys too. Although Turkish ladies are pretty and they are exotic like a forbidden fruit, but some cultural differences can not be bridged. I could hear that Turkish people follow the "lighter" version of Islam faith, but some basic rules are kept anyway. For example non-Muslim guys must accept circumcision, which is one of the greatest final test before marriage, but I doubt he will be a "real" Muslim in his heart even if he accepts this physical requirement from the family of his love...

I could have found such reasons toom that a local Turkish woman won´t speak with foreign  men. But how would that Turkish woman react in a Western country? Would they flirt there if they are not controlled by relatives, laws and traditions? And what is more important? Religion or personal happiness? Must we combine or separete these in our life?

I have heard only about Turkish male - foreign woman couples, but the opposite is very rare. Maybe Christian guys are afraid of having a relationship with Turkish girls...

Our greatest minority are the Gypsies in Hungary. I am not racist either, but when they immigrated to Canada they began to stole, because they don´t like working. And do you know what was the response of the citizens. They must have put warning signs at the entrance of local shops: "Hungarians, don´t steal!". I was shocked after I had heard this news and I became angry because obviously the Hungarians were innocent in these cases... The worse part was I couldn´t do anything to regain our honor.

I know the media can change everything, but our local newspapers and online media sources told us a "Turkish girl". So how should I know whether this crime was made by Turkish or Kurdish or any other nationality? If I couldn´t like your people, your culture then I wouldn´t be here. I didn´t want to make you angry, but I have to report that such news won´t help on the case of Turkey to join to the EU.  

I am reading every news when Istanbul or Turkey or any Turkish related things are mentioned here. I have to tell you so many Hungarians don´t know your country or your people at all, but maybe I will tell about this in an other thread. 

I was worried that other people will dislike Turkish people because of this crime. I know it is only a solo case, but the media can influence everybody...

Have you heard that a Turkish girl was buried alive because she chatted with guys? How could their male relatives so cruel?

I have heard about the heavy raining only now. I am so sad to see such floods on the streets and between the houses.

I wrote down my opinion in the EU thread. I am so happy to see Turkey wants reforms and new relationships with other countries. It was time to begin. Good luck!

I read a Hungarian article about Ahmet Davutoðlu´s politic. I am so happy to see that Turkey began to walk on the right way. The Kurd and Armenian questions have to be answered, if Turkey wants to join EU. When I walked in Istanbul, I could feel it already did, because I had a so positive experience about the Turkish people. Istanbul was a very modern city and they could keep the old Turkish culture as well. If I couldn´t see the advertisements in Turkish language, I could feel I was in Spain or Italy. But I saw the bright side of Turkey, so I wish they could find a permanent solution and they could sign peace with the neighbours and minorities at the east borders.

On the other hand, I am not so sure you will win with the EU connection. You can work more easier in West European countries, but I fear the richer EU companies will buy everything in Turkey as they did in Hungary. And you have to controll the borders even harder, because so many immigrants will come from Middle Asia.

You should watch these Turkey videos too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyNg-ve_m7w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YAvfxA6a94

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDVpFTiHxbM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CBllQ3Uchk

The last two is similar, because the sound is the same, but the video is different. These videos remind me how wonderful time I could spend in your lovely country.

I was last year in Turkey as part of a bus trip on the Balkan penninsula. I could spend 4 day in Turkey and we visitied Çannakale, Troia, Bursa, Istanbul, Tekirdað and Edirne, so we went around the Marmara sea. I still think it was like a dream. Every time I watch the photos I made there, than my very positive experiences warm my heart and soul. I have never thought I will like this country and culture at the first time. I can promise I will visit it again in the next years.

Here is an online Turkey advertisment, what I really love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CBllQ3Uchk

I don´t know.  "Tesek" is not a word, because it is "tessék". This has no easy translation in English, but maybe the "please" word is equal. We use it, when you want to speak someone with very politely.

Köszönöm = Thank you

cocoanna: Thank you for the long story. Your family history is really interesting.

Maybe the ending of numbers is a heritage of Turkish influence, but I haven´t heard about it.

The personal pronoun sounds similar too:

Ben - én

Sen - te

O - ő

Biz - mi

Siz - ti

Onlar - ők

* * *

Even my name, Ákos has a Turkish origin. Somewhere I´ve read it means in old Turkish "white bird" as ak-kush.

* * *

Here are some interesting article:

http://www.columbia.edu/~sss31/Turkiye/macarca.turkce.html

http://mek.niif.hu/01900/01911/html/index2.html

http://www.ghs-mh.de/migration/projects/language/la_hu_1.htm

Yes, I know. I don´t want any border changes, because I would like to see peace between the two folk. This is the most important. 

I came here, because I began to like the Turkish language. It reminds me to Hungarian. Both of them is very hard to learn for non-native speaker, but it is not impossible.

I don´t know what have you learned about Hungary, but we were conquered for 150 years in the middle age by Turks. This perios had positive and negative effects too, but our culture and language evolved because of the Turkish people.

As far as I know 9% of our words have a Turkish origin. Here are some example:

• Lovaglás: gyeplő
• Törzsi rend, nomád társadalom: gyula, kündü, karcha, kapu, sereg, tábor, bilincs, törvény, tanú
• Népnevek: besenyő, nándor, böszörmény, káliz, bular (belár)
• Vallás, hiedelemvilág: báj, ige, igéz, boszorkány, ünnep, egyház, búcsú, gyón
• Állattartás: barom, ökör, bika, tinó, ünő, borjú, ürü, kos, kecske, disznó, ártány, tyúk, túró, író, köpű, ól, karám, vályú, komondor, kuvasz
• Földművelés: arat, búza, árpa, őröl, ocsú, kölyű, eke, sarló, tarló, borsó, gyümölcs, alma, körte, som, dió, kökény, kender, csalán, tiló, csepű, orsó, szőlő, bor, seprő, csiger
• Halászat: gyalom, vejsze, tok, süllő, gyertya
• Solymászás, madarászás: sólyom, keselyű, ölyv, turul, karvaly, tőr
• Mesterségek: ács, szűcs
• Közlekedés: tengely, szál
• Kereskedés: bársony, gyöngy, bors, tár, szatócs
• Természeti környezet: tenger, sár, szél
• Állatvilág: oroszlán, bölény, gödény, túzok, ürge, borz, bögöly
• Növényvilág: gyertyán, kőris, katáng, kóró, gyékény, gyom, bojtorján, kökörcsin, üröm
• Család: gyermek, kölyök, iker
• Test, testi tulajdonságok: térd, boka, gyomor, köldök, tar, csipa, szeplő
• Lakás, eszközök: sátor, cserge, karó, szék, teknő, bölcső, koporsó, balta
• Ruházat: süveg, saru, ködmön, csat, tükör
• Igék: gyűl, dől, szór, szűr, csavar, söpör, arat

But if you follow this link, there will be better examples with Turkish words:

http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macarca

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_language

What I could discover, when I was in Turkey:

kapu = kapýsý

sál = eþarp

sárga = sarý

alma = elma

sok = çok

OFF

Irishclove: Technically Cluj-Napoca was a Hungarian city before World War I, but we supported Germany, so we lost lot of area. The eastiest part of Transylvannia, what is called as "Erdély" in our language, there live 1,5 million Hungarian as a minority. If you read some article about our history, you will know much more. Lot of people can not forget what happened 89 years ago, but I think we have to make peace with Romanians and Slovakians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon

ON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAMA9P-4qCk

 ^ Europe is a country....

Irishclove: I am so sorry. Your case is an example for one of the negative stereotype what are in the heads, when we are hearing about Turkey or Arabian countries. And it is so sad, because I am sure not every Turkish male is the same.  I hope you will find a better partner after the divorce.

Lady in the red: Thanks for speaking about this whole "Turkia" vs. "Turkey" question. I would like to prefer to call every country on its own language. So Turkey is "Türkiye", Austria is "Österreich", Hungary is "Magyarország". But nobody could follow my message if I use these names.

I think it is bit offensive when someone hears the "Hungary" word, when he calls me as "hungry". Similar happened with Turkey, when an American quiz player believed it means only the bird, not a country...

Maybe you should upgrade the forum motor, because it is a bit old. The new Bulletin type forums have so many extra funcions what could be useful here too.

I would be a bit unhappy at a multi-cultural marriage because of the divorce. Ok, when someone is married to an other human, nobody thinks it can happen later. But what will happen if they have a child?

Here is a bad example, who this event can becoma extremly wild. There were some sad news in the Hungarian media, when a Hungarian-Turkish couple fought for theirs son on Hungarian and Turkish courts and they couldn´t decide where he should live.  The Turkish father stole the boy (he was 10-13 age years old) and they hided him in a small Turkish town for months. Later they found the boy and they brought him back to Hungary, but he put drugs into her mother´s car after an uncle´s advice so the Serbian frontier-guard arrested her own Hungarian mother.

Can I ask why will we never hear about Turkish women - foreign man relationship or marriage? I think it is rarer. Does the husband have to convert to Islam? Or will the parents accept a non-religious son-in-law? Will they send their girl into a new country?

Hehe. I haven´t got so many times! I try to upload only the better and more interesting pictures, what wasn´t repeated over and over by tourists.

I didn´t make any picture about cats. I don´t know why, but these cat pictures appeared through my name. Sorry, if I disappointed you.

Trudy: Thanks for the support. I planned to rewrite some description, because I wasn´t in my best English form, when I wrote them. I made more than 1600+ photo, so I hope you will enjoy them, what I will upload.

I uploaded some picture about my journey, but it seems they won´t appear here. Can you tell me when will the admins watch them? Ok, they are not amazing, but they brought good memories back from last summer.