I would be interested to know how much pressure is on a child (not sure at what age) to memorise the Koran. It is a choice that is made by the individual? I am talking about Turkey, not other Islamic countries.

While you can argue that a person should himself or herself chose whether he or she wants to memorise the quran or not, it is really hard to memorize it when you are old, hence the ambitious parents themselves chose whether to teach their sons/daughters or not. If you come to the stage when you can yourself chose to memorise it, it's really late. Like after the age of 15, it's hard to memorize the whole Quran. Children usually start memorising around the age of 12 by the encouragement of their parents and finish at the age of 14. Generally, the children are only encouraged, so it's by their consent that they memorise. Usually, the individual does not choose himself or herself, but his or her parents offer to him or her, and if the child accepts, then the memorising takes place. As far as I see, there is no obligation, where the parents force to make their children memorise the Quran. But personally, I wish that my parents had made me memorise it. I am now 18 years old, and I find it very difficult to memorise. I am very enthusiastic to do it, but I am struggling. I even sometimes wish that my parents have forced me to memorise it...I might not like it by that time, but now I would be appreciated!

are you being funny?

no, I just live here, but no turkish blood.

one more question
when you are 25 for example, knowing that when you were 14, you knew the Koran by heart, are you still considered as a "hafiz", is it easy to stay it, does it require regular work ?