PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS SITE: http://www.boycottturkey.org/

[Joseph]

turkish pride,
If I wanted to paint pictures I would use a brush not a keyboard.
Euronews stated that it was the street-hawkers who had led to the drop in German tourism, not me.
Most holiday destinations have these folk, trying to earn a living and annoying most of us, but I think that rather than any other reason is probably the spread of militant Islam and the recent horrific murders of Christians, including of course, Hrant Dink.

The Kurdish terror tactics don't seem to deter British visitors to turkey, we deal with terror attacks in rainy UK so they won't stop our summer vacations.

Any extra markets found by turkey for her goods and services can still not replace the money lost from boycotts. True, my pitifully small contribution to boycott turkey will forever be unrecognised ( Mr Erdogan hasn't sent any begging letters yet!)
BUT A LIRA LOST IS A LIRA LOST.

I usually spend my vacation money in Greece and Italy, their gain turkey's loss.

I hope for your sake that turkey fails to attract the "clubbing" sector, as then you will truly see the dregs of humanity who have blighted holiday resorts such as Kavos (Corfu), Aya Napa (Cyprus) and Ibiza. You really wouldn't want these people because they will really and finally deter other tourists.
And how your radical Islamists will react to widespread alcohol and drug abuse, open-air sex in all it's shapes & forms and general mayhem. Interesting.

Good points. The clubbing set has made a mess of some of the Greek Islands, Mallorca, Ibiza, Cyprus, etc.

[bell-the-cat]

steph I dont know if street-hawkers are the sole reason for a down swing the Turkish tourism sector has experienced in recent times. Other issues are at hand here such as the bird flu crisis experienced in Turkey, Kurdish terrorism which has been targeting tourist places, the cartoon crisis also had an affect as has the Iraq war. So please dont try and paint some kind of picture whereby its the annoying people pestering Turks who have created a downswing in tourism. I know these street hasslers are a problem and dont worry the Turkish government is well aware of them and they are going to penalise them alot harsher in the future. Turkey is trying to appeal to tourists by improving local infrastructure in tourist regions (ie better road connections, railroads, bus and coach services, increasing the number of hospitals and their facilities, etc...)

Turkey is less popular with foreign tourists simply because Turkey is less interesting to foreign tourists now than in the past. The price difference between holidays in Turkey and at equivalent beach resorts in Europe is small - so mass market tourism is on the decline. And as for more "upmarket" clients - Turkey is simply too ugly a country that has too little to see or to purchase compared with equivalent regions in, say, Italy, Spain, or Greece. It's astonishing how blind Turks are to that fact, so maybe I should repeat it - modern Turkey is mostly an extremely ugly country, without anything much in the way of arts or culture, with a boring lifeless countryside, and identikit vast sprawling towns and cities everywhere that are of no interest to anyone!
Other little things, like language barriers and Turkey's idiotic visa requirements also discourage foreign visitors. All those "infrastructure" improvements are actually designed to cater for the real growth area in the Turkish tourism industry - Turkish tourists. Unfortunately, the requirements of the Turkish tourist and the European tourists are so different that foreign visitors numbers are bound to drop even further.

[Turkish Pride]

Turkey is less popular with foreign tourists simply because Turkey is less interesting to foreign tourists now than in the past.

HUH? How did you ascertain this piece of "wisdom"?

The price difference between holidays in Turkey and at equivalent beach resorts in Europe is small - so mass market tourism is on the decline. And as for more "upmarket" clients - Turkey is simply too ugly a country that has too little to see or to purchase compared with equivalent regions in, say, Italy, Spain, or Greece.

The absurdity of this comment is laughable! Turkey and its abundance of historical sites and its natural beauty is a known fact for many people. When you make comments like this it really shows your ignorance of Turkey.

I have to ask what is the basis of this kind of statement because it smells like its come from your backside (no offence)

If you no nothing about something then say nothing.

[Turkish Pride]

turkish pride,
If I wanted to paint pictures I would use a brush not a keyboard.
Euronews stated that it was the street-hawkers who had led to the drop in German tourism, not me.
Most holiday destinations have these folk, trying to earn a living and annoying most of us, but I think that rather than any other reason is probably the spread of militant Islam and the recent horrific murders of Christians, including of course, Hrant Dink.

OK if you saw it in some report.

But I agree with the whole Islamic militantism issue, especially in Turkey.

The Kurdish terror tactics don't seem to deter British visitors to turkey, we deal with terror attacks in rainy UK so they won't stop our summer vacations.

Indeed, I am British myself. I know we wont bow down to terrorists.

Any extra markets found by turkey for her goods and services can still not replace the money lost from boycotts. True, my pitifully small contribution to boycott turkey will forever be unrecognised ( Mr Erdogan hasn't sent any begging letters yet!)
BUT A LIRA LOST IS A LIRA LOST.

I usually spend my vacation money in Greece and Italy, their gain turkey's loss.

Yeah a Lira lost is a Lira lost. However I'm saying Turkey can make up for a lost Lira by gaining a Lira elsewhere.

I hope for your sake that turkey fails to attract the "clubbing" sector, as then you will truly see the dregs of humanity who have blighted holiday resorts such as Kavos (Corfu), Aya Napa (Cyprus) and Ibiza. You really wouldn't want these people because they will really and finally deter other tourists.
And how your radical Islamists will react to widespread alcohol and drug abuse, open-air sex in all it's shapes & forms and general mayhem. Interesting.

A valid point on what effects clubbing can have on regions. However our radical Islamists can react however they like?! I mean Turkish society certainly isn't all Islamist or Islamic. In Istanbul there is a varied clubbing scene whereby in some clubs you'll find like a few thousand Turks dressed as goths with all the piercings and tatoes and that make-up and all. What do the Islamists do about them?

[bell-the-cat]

HUH? How did you ascertain this piece of "wisdom"?



The absurdity of this comment is laughable! Turkey and its abundance of historical sites and its natural beauty is a known fact for many people. When you make comments like this it really shows your ignorance of Turkey.

I have to ask what is the basis of this kind of statement because it smells like its come from your backside (no offence)

If you no nothing about something then say nothing.

Ahh, those Turkish "known facts". Seems I know your country far better than you do.
Of course this is a diversion from the subject of this thread, and of the whole forum, but Turkish Pride's does give an insight into the personality of many people in Turkey. Every visitor to Turkey will be asked by Turks, on numerous occasions, whether they think "Turkey is beautiful" - try to give any sort of truthful answer and it is either not understood, or not accepted, so you end up just saying "yes, Turkey is very beautiful"! It is the only acceptable answer!!

Mr "Turkish Pride" - have you ever seen photographs of European towns, of European historical sites, of European galleries and museums? How can you possibly compare Turkey to that? There isn't a single town or city in Turkey that can match even the most minor historical European town in the completeness of its urban environment, the beauty of its buildings, and the range of its cultural assets.
Most of the Turkish countryside is ugly beyond belief, scarred by power lines, piles of builders' waste dumped by roadsides, ugly houses built without any planning controls, and successive generations of roads that have been just left abandoned as new, wider ones are constructed.
And as for litter and garbage, it is everywhere and is discarded without any thought for the environment: your country looks, to put it bluntly, filthy. There is no wildlife left to speak of, rivers are reduced to dried up tracks through over-extraction for irrigation.
Of course there are many positive things - away from Istanbul there is a near total lack of vandalism, most cities and towns are very safe, and people are very friendly to visitors - but you can't make a sustainable tourism industry just out of that.

[bell-the-cat]

In Istanbul there is a varied clubbing scene whereby in some clubs you'll find like a few thousand Turks dressed as goths with all the piercings and tatoes and that make-up and all. What do the Islamists do about them?

I remember seeing my first Turkish goths in Ankara about 3 years ago, sitting around outside a record shop in Kizilay. No need for them to resort to hair-dye since most Turks have jet-black hair to start with. Among them there was a stunningly beautiful girl in her late teens, her arms wrapped around the neck of her boyfriend. I hope he treasured her, because such an exotic creature would have been impossible to find in Ankara even a couple of years earlier.

[Steph]

This'll help then

Turkish politician called to suspend issuing visas for Armenian citizens
12.05.2007 21:17 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Republic Popular Party member, parliamentarian Shukru Elekdag has condemned Armenia for denying visas to Turkish representatives of the OSCE, who were expected to observe parliamentary elections in the country.

MP said Turkey should suspend granting visa to Armenian citizens as a reply.

“On one hand Armenia demands to open borders with Turkey, but on the other hand it denies visas to Turkish representatives. Armenia thinks Turkey is afraid of European Union, as well as the U.S. But Ankara is to react to this by all means. Armenian citizens shouldn’t receive visas for a month. It should be Turkey’s message that it is always ready to reply properly. We have to take appropriate measures if we respect ourselves. Armenia doesn’t want Turkey to observe the current situation in the country,” he said.

“The OSCE should refuse to observe the elections as Turkish parliamentarians fail to get visas”, he claimed, APA reports.

Armenia has rejected to issue visas for 8 Turkish observers. Vladimir Karapetian, Spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that visas cannot be issued due to absence of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey. The OSCE/ODIHR voiced discontent with Armenia’s refusal to host Turkish observers.

[Turkish Pride]

Turkish politician called to suspend issuing visas for Armenian citizens
12.05.2007 21:17 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish Republic Popular Party member, parliamentarian Shukru Elekdag has condemned Armenia for denying visas to Turkish representatives of the OSCE, who were expected to observe parliamentary elections in the country.

MP said Turkey should suspend granting visa to Armenian citizens as a reply.

“On one hand Armenia demands to open borders with Turkey, but on the other hand it denies visas to Turkish representatives. Armenia thinks Turkey is afraid of European Union, as well as the U.S. But Ankara is to react to this by all means. Armenian citizens shouldn’t receive visas for a month. It should be Turkey’s message that it is always ready to reply properly. We have to take appropriate measures if we respect ourselves. Armenia doesn’t want Turkey to observe the current situation in the country,” he said.

“The OSCE should refuse to observe the elections as Turkish parliamentarians fail to get visas”, he claimed, APA reports.

Armenia has rejected to issue visas for 8 Turkish observers. Vladimir Karapetian, Spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that visas cannot be issued due to absence of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey. The OSCE/ODIHR voiced discontent with Armenia’s refusal to host Turkish observers.

Well if a politician has only suggested it then it hasn't happened yet. Personally I dont see the need to exacerbate this situation as it is not all to serious. As Turkey and Armenia are both in the OSCE I'm sure Turkey will receive some form of feedback about the Armenian elections if not directly visiting Armenia but by other means.

[misakz]

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[Denier]

I beg your pardon? Boycotting Turkey? Please, you must be joking. In every summer 20 million tourists visit Turkey, but Armenia's population is about 3.5 million. If you want add the diaspora too... doesn't matter. I didn't even know that Armenians were boycotting our goods, I learnt it now. Some guys say go to Greece or Italy for their vacations instead of Turkey. Their choice, it's their loss.
Bell the cat says that there is nothing to see except scarred by power lines etc. Maybe it is just of his jealousy or his nationalist feelings. Again I say that it is his loss. As Turkish Pride says, Turkey and its abundance of historical sites and its natural beauty is a known fact for many people. Secondly instead of paying money to these unuseless boycott stickers, save your money and buy something else you would like. I didn't come here to talk about the genocide's reality so don't argue in this topic. Now, this is for Asala. In the previous pages he told that his American friend returned a Turkish made frame to the shop where he bought it and told the keeper that he returned it because the violance of human rights in Turkey . Then I suddenly remembered what America had done in Iraq, and what Armenia did in Nagorno-Karabakh, and I decided that Asala's friend was right (!)
Afterwards probobaly the goverment will have to pay compensation. I'll really wonder if those boycotters will also boycott that money.