LIFE IN TURKEY - THE THREAD 4

It depends on who you are, where you live and which education you got.

Let's say you are an uneducated Kurd from the south east, from a family of poor workers. Life is going to be hard. Your chances of going up in the social pyramid are very few. If you move to a big city everybody will look down at you because you are Kurdish and poor, and probably you will end up working as a slave for a doner shop for 2000–2500 tl. Chances of finding a girlfriend that is not in your social level are close to zero.

Keep in mind that into order to get good education, you need first a good high school, and for that you need to pass the high school access exam, and for that either you go to a private school or invest a lot of money on preparation schools. Public schools don’t get you ready for the exams, or at least not as good as private ones do.

If you are an educated “white” Turk from one of the big cities, I dare to say that life is going to be easier than it would have been if you were born in Europe or America. Finding a job after university is easier than in the West, and salaries go from 4000tl up. You can afford a nice house, nice social life and your only preoccupation will be complaining about Erdogan and how Turkish lira is losing value against dollar and euro.

It's also important whether you family is conservative or not. Even most liberal Turks are conservative for European standards, so having a real conservative family can be a real pain in the ass, with them telling you how to dress, what to do and who to marry. Liberal families often expect the same, but they keep it to themselves.

If you are a foreigner and somehow you manage to live outside the Turkish messed up labor market and be paid in euros or dollars, you will be the new sultan of Turkey. Prices and rents are low, food is great and the country is very safe. If you also manage to get a bunch of friends that don't consider you a circus freak, then you will have a great time (normally Turks don't really like hanging out with foreigners, whatever they say). Language is also a barrier hard to break, but it isn't impossible.