Hi Rich,

The first thing to remember is that most of the trouble is over in the east or in Istanbul. Also you can not go anywhere in the world nowadays without finding some problem: Eta in Spain; riots in France; bombings in London; bird flu everywhere etc. You'd end up staying indoors and doing nothing. There could be a bombing in Bodrum sometime in the future but there could be anywhere in the world.

Go for it!

Cheers

Mike

Turkey is a large country with varying ethnic people. It also is going through massive economic and social changes, mainly to safeguard its stability. There will be outbreaks of dissent and disagreement.People don't like change. but i agree with the post above...where can you go?
I left the uk because i was fed up paying tax after tax whilst other people sat on their a**e and got handouts. I was fed up with a once brilliant health and education system slowly decaying in a mass of poor financial management and extreme political correctness. i was angry at persistent criminal offenders flouting the law and getting more sympathy than their victims. I didn't want my children to become embroiled in a drugs culture that saps the soul out of so many people. These are a few of my personal reasons for leaving and I think they are far more important than bombs and riots. More and more people are doing the same and arriving in Turkey which should allay your fears about investment here.
Good luck with your choices

Rich cant agree more with the two previous post, I currently live in Antalya but I will retire in a few more years and I will be Chelseaboys neighbour. And if you new the area where he is you would know why we want to live there. Chelsea boy I keep promising to get down there but I am busy, busy busy.

Bryn.its about time you stepped off the treadmill............. kadastro have just started mapping the Boz..... developing a bit of land near the sea must be better than flogging apartments...far less stressful anyway.take care and see you soon

CB just waiting on the results of the mapping then the land s going on the market me thinks, then it will be time to get the suttons seed catalogue out and learn how to fish

As with any muslim country there is the question of the fundimentalists taking over its a totally different culture. I personally wouldn't invest anything there but its clear that others think different.

CB just waiting on the results of the mapping then the land s going on the market me thinks, then it will be time to get the suttons seed catalogue out and learn how to fish

sell your bit no way far to good to share... we will have to speak...soon

As with any muslim country there is the question of the fundimentalists taking over its a totally different culture. I personally wouldn't invest anything there but its clear that others think different

what aload of B******s...havent you heard of Attaturk.have you been to Turkey...just as a lesson, the government here IS muslim fundlmentalist and they have done more for muslim/west relations than BLAIR, bush and any other "western" leader. plus they have stablised an erratic country that is now ready to sign initial EU agreements...please dont post without knowledge

Yes I have been to Turkey, also experienced time in one of their hospitals I am basing my opinion on articles I have read in the newspapers. they don't have a chance of joining Europe in the next decade. Just because you live there doesn't make you an expert, the poster asked for opinions and thats what I think. Not saying I'm right but I have read a lot about the problems there.

Hi Jacky

Why do you think so many people are buying property in
Turkey? They must read the same newspapers as you.
The western part of Turkey (where most people buy property)
is more European and liberal.
I would still advise Ric35 to go ahead but to be quick as prices
are rising fast (you still there Ric35?).

Mike

Yes I have been to Turkey, also experienced time in one of their hospitals I am basing my opinion on articles I have read in the newspapers. they don't have a chance of joining Europe in the next decade. Just because you live there doesn't make you an expert, the poster asked for opinions and thats what I think. Not saying I'm right but I have read a lot about the problems there.

Articles in newspapers..... try INVALID URL you wont get any t**s on page 3, or whose had liposuction on page 5, but you might get ACTUAL turkish news in english. As for hospitals, i'm sorry that your experience wasn't good. But my wife suffered for 6 years in england with stomach pains, 6 years of tests and different specialists, 2 months here and they removed her gall bladder with 20+ stones in it, some the size of marbles.
I hope Turkey doesn't go into the EU, but my point was that this "fundamentalist" government has turned the economy and the human rights issues around so that they are in line with the EU.
I agree living here doesn't make my opinions any more valid, but then the uk press advised people not to go to Turkey due to bird flu. The nearest case was 900 miles away from the tourist resorts, are they now saying dont come to the UK?
be careful what you read............

I have lived here in turkey now for 5 years and to be honest I feel a lot safer here than I would in the UK!!! I have been back a few times in the past 5 years and to be quite honest a few days was enough for me!

"Hi Jacky

Why do you think so many people are buying property in
Turkey? "

Probably for the same reasons as they were buying houses in the UK in the late 80's, a belief that the only way is up and "safe as houses"

buyer beware......

hotel stayer

to quote mark twain when he was asked what to invest in by a younger man

'' Buy land son they aren't making any more''

Jacky did you also ready in the paper that Freddy Star ate a hampster

Turkish hospital experiences Vs British ones... had terrible experiences in British ones - from MRSA and severe neglect leading to a death of a 29 year old mother (simple gallstones which then blocked the pancreas - despite over the years calling the doc out and ambulances because of severe pains which we now know were gallstones - simple Op.), not being fed properly, and when they are fed, it's rubbish with no goodness whatsoever. one infection after another. watching the staff not bother cleaning their hands and porters walking into intensive care without going through the proceedure clearly labelled on the wall....saw an ITU nurse try to stick a canular back into my sister's arm as she lay sedated because she caouldn't be bothered to get a clean one. not diagnosing problems despite showing up clearly on an xray, which left my mother borderline wheelchair bound and waiting for surgery which could have been done a long time before... so many things they have gotten wrong over the years with our family alone. whereas dad's time (6 weeks or so) in Ahu Hetman in Marmaris was fantastic. sparkeling clean, a dietician assigned, even though illness was nothing to do with eating etc. specialist came in person to check how he was and was very friendly and took the time to talk and explain to you. worked out dad's illness was not a stroke nor heart related and couldn't stress enough to tell him to let his UK doc know that - but of course, they didn;t listen...got to the UK hospital to be sat in the corridor for 12 hours and then told he had a stroke and sent home - to spend the next 3 months lying flat in bed unable to get up. eventually relaised it was a form of vertigo and gave him simple travel sickness pills - which with hindsight is what the turkish one gave him all along.
Sorry, but I would rather go to the hospital in Turkey over any British one anyday. Always let down by them over here.

hotel stayer

to quote mark twain when he was asked what to invest in by a younger man

'' Buy land son they aren't making any more''

Yes I agree he did tell some good stories

Western Turkey is extremely civilised. The country is Muslim but the constition says that it must remain secular. I would advise anyone to buy in Turkey now.
I bought a villa rather than buy a BMW 2 years ago. Now my small investment of £23,000 for a 3 bedroom villa with pool is worth over £40.000. A BMW would now be worth less than £15,000. If Turkey joins the EEC then I can expect even greater growth. If pension rules in the UK are changed to include 2nd homes the prices will rocket.
A tip is to buy from the Turks rather than the European developers who charge more for a property and have higher management charges.

I'd go for the BMW anytime

With the risk of being shot down in flames, may I suggest that those of you that live in the resort towns on the coast, don't actually live in the 'real' Turkey but in an insulated version of the country?

I say this because I did live in several places in Turkey including the coastal towns, but also in towns etc much further north and there was an enormous difference between the two in very many ways. The first difference I noted was how women though in most laws are supposed to be, were very definitely not equal in terms of treatment and their daily contact with authorities. I lost count of the number of times when I had made a face to face enquiry say with the police, or the local authority and the answer was directed at and to my husband. Little niggly things that only add up over the years. I also hated the way domestic violence was not taken seriously. I will not say too much on that subject but women were treated with the appalling disregard that they probably were in the UK back in the fifties. It was truly loathsome.

Some of the political stuff fair made my skin crawl and although to a certain extent things have been cleaned up in the last few years, there is still an undercurrent of fear felt by those who do not represent the main political 'focus' within the country or sometimes the locality and yes, I have bathed the wounds of men who spoke out and then received a visit from the 'authorities'. I note that the graffiti in those small towns hasn't changed over the years, so the situation appears similar.

I have had good and bad treatment in Turkish hospitals in much the same way as in the UK but please do not make the Turkish system to be equitable in the way the NHS is. Face it, if you are poor and do not have insurance, you do not get a decent health care service in Turkey.

And there are places in Turkey that still are desperately poor, where there is no running water and very definitely not any hot water or something that resembles a flushing toilet. Even in some of the larger cities these sort of dwellings exist in their thousands.

There are those therefore that are willing to exploit the situation and take advantage of those who live in dire circumstances. In these conditions the political situation can get scary.

I also did not care for the way casual violence was used to solve any minor local disputes which is something those of you living on the coast must also be familiar with due to the workings of the local 'mafia' types who do control who can and cannot set up in business to a far greater extent than the local authority does.

Ignoring all of this or living somewhere where these experiences are not common doesn't mean they don't happen and are not true. They should be acknowledged as part of the make up of a country for better or worse. One of the reasons I could not continue living there was because people would not acknowledge and or handle the truth.

Please don't get me wrong, I love the country and have done since I first set foot there nearly thirty years ago. I have always been welcomed as a guest wherever I have travelled but as a permanent resident the blinkers should not be pulled down and situations ignored. We don't ignore them in the UK because the problems are at least acknowledged by those who live there. Life is never a complete bed of roses where ever you happen to be.