That is really bad I have been going to Turkey for many years and I lived there for a few years too and I never had anyone who said anything like that. Although I have never stayed in Marmaris it is not usual for shopkeepers to behave so badly. They do hassle sometimes but that is the worse I have heard. Try not to let it put you off going to Turkey, most people there are lovley.

I can only hope this is a one off case..i do not go on holiday to be insulted,i know it has put my son and girlfriend off returning.
Well i fly out on 25th to marmaris i hope this dont happen to me

Im going for a well earned rest not a row

But then we went to Tunisia last year and my husband was called a fat bellied german because he did not buy..lol we aint german..the belly...yes

we fly out on friday so i hope i dont experience anything like that it must have been scary for your son . i think they tend to forget that the tourists keep there buisness going and they will start to drive people away slowly .i know they are not all like that as most are pleasant .
hope you enjoy your holiday

Yes was his very first holiday abroad,not a good start he saved all year,he will not be going back....such a shame why can they not see, they are driving people away...

Hi cheryl , think this is maybe a one of, but sometimes you have to let them know where you are coming from ,i remember one guy in the market in belek said to me you have a fat belly ,i said i will give you a fat lip, everytime i go to that market now the same guy remembers me and talks away .

Bluepeterno1

Thats shocking, and no wonder your son is put off from going back, something pretty similiar happened to me and my mam a few years ago in tenerife... it terrified me and have never been back!

When I was in marmaris last year this shop keeper came out to try and get me and my daughters in his shop, we explained we had no money, but still he insisted... he even said that if we come in, he would give us a free t-shirt... well from my experience nothing is ever "free" so politely declined, basically i was scared of another experience to that in tenerife... however i do often wonder what would have happened... not wanting to hijack cheryls post, but has anybody ever experienced this? (also saw other holidayers going through the same thing at other shops)

going back in 2 weeks, so would like to be prepared should it happen again!

clare x

whilst i was in marmaris bazaar with a girlfriend ,our hubbys and kids about 2 weeks ago my friend got groped by a young lad, in 1 of the fake gameboy, ds shops, i was in the shop next door so didnt see it happen, but i made sure all the shops around his knew what he had done, they all told me to call the police, she didnt want to make a fuss or call police due to having 4 kids with us and upsetting them, if it had happened to me i would slapped him 1 or my hubby would have , so you really need to be careful of some of these shop keepers, she was glad to get back to akyaka and hated marmaris after this happened

My to think im going next thurday...ill be well aware..
Now my poor son has 5 stitches see my new post.....

It's not nice but it's not the norm either. We have been going to Turkey for many years and you always get the odd rude shopkeeper.
Our retort is to tell them "if you hassle me I will never buy anything from your shop"
If this doesn't work, well I have learned a couple of "Explanetory" Turkish phrases which seem to get through.

if this sort of things happens to you in turkey inform the jandarma as this is totally against the law and would be dea lt with

We are not long back from our first visit to Marmaris....and did not experience anything like you have mentioned!

The worst that happened to us was...a shopkeeper tried to entice my husband into his shop by saying to my husband :-

'Sir Come in and see .....we have shirts to fit your body!!!!!'

As my husband is tall and very well built it was a source of amusement to us all for the rest of the holiday......we used to ask other shopkeepers the question.....do you have shirts to fit his body? (well we thought it was funny LOL

we never found any problems with pushy shopkeepers....(it was not nearly as bad as in Side 2 years ago)......I felt entirely comfortable going inside shops and browsing.......and if asked.....just said I'm just looking and they always left me alone......

Hmmm perhaps i should find myself a BIG fella to take with me next year...

my husaband is 6ft 2 and 15 stone..this did not stop a shopkeeper calling him a fat bellied german...lol

but seriously its great you had no problems,but it can be dreadful for people that get a bad experience
,when your on your first holiday miles away from home at aged 20 my sons girlfriend was in tears to be sworn at in this manner.
Im used to hassle having been to morroco and tunisia a few times i handle it well,and give as good as i get mostly funny stuff.
But as you read people are having bad things happen and said to them,many of which will not return and go else where for the future holidays so who is loosing out in the end ?

I have only been to Olu and have only had one negative experience with any shopkeeper and that was on our visit last month. He was down in the shops on the front by the Belcekiz Beach, and he was so creepy. My son was looking at the football shirts and this man thought he had the right to come out of his shop and touch me up!

Unfortunately . . .he had picked TOTALLY the wrong woman to do this to! I asked him politely . . .but he didn't stop . . .but he did get the message . . .very quickly and very loud and clear!

It annoyed me more than anything, the fact that someone thinks they have a right to do it just because they can . . .there was a younger one with him who looked a bit shocked too, I guess they aren't used to a woman responding in that way . . . the couple of other times that we walked past during our holiday were the only times I have seen a shopkeeper walk into the shop rather than out of it

But I can imagine what it would be like if it were to get really nasty or if they approached someone who didn't feel able to stand up to them

I had someone touch my bum in a shop once too, he just came up while I was buying a bottle of water and did it

I immediately told him in a very loud voice to get his filthy hand off me and he backed off really quick. I told my husband when I got home and he went straight to the shop and had a serious talk with the culprit, he asked how he would feel if someone did that to his wife or sister and I have to say he looked suitably shamed afterwards and apologised.

Kedi

We came back from Marmaris on 28th August and i would never visit that hell hole again, the shopkeepers, boat owners and resturant people want a lesson in manners, they are ignorant and in your face all the time! Back to Spain for me !

Sorry, fatboyrover, but I've always found it to be the opposite - you can keep your Spain, give me Turkey any day. I've never found the hassle to be a problem and I've rarely encountered such friendly, welcoming people anywhere else. Most of the Turkish folk I've met would go out of their way to help you.

I agree with you 100% blondiescot.

We went to Lanzarote this year and the people were nowhere near as friendly as the Turks. I have always found Turkish people in general well mannered and friendly.

I went to marmaris for the first time in july with my boyfriend. We went on one of those shopping trip things and trust me, i will go back to marmaris but never on a trip like that again. We were looking in a shop window at a top i liked and the man inside made us go in and just as ur son said, no thanks not interested, he starts ranting and raving at us "you f***ing english your all the same, dont come in this country etc" and then this man tried to charge 60 lira for a fake football shirt around about £30 and we said no because it was fake and there was 2 doors to his shop i managed to walk out of one and he put his arm infront of my boyfriend to stop him leaving, it was honestly horrible, i wont go shopping there again. We were both only 18 at the time and it had me shaking, i dont know whether they think they can take advantage of younger couples. xxxx