I’ve always been fascinated by Turkish culture on many levels: the multi-faceted influences as East meets West that floods from Turkey’s 8 borders, the fusion of the traditional and the progressive mindsets that buzz within the nation.
I’ve been reading a lot about Turkish men lately, after stumbling across an article about Didim, where over the past couple of years, comparatively high numbers of Turkish men married British women.
I must say, I’m struggling to see the cultural similarities, (Nice cuppa PG and a chunk of Turkish delight?) but the statistics are clear as day, From January to October ’09 42 men from Didim married British women. Over the same period, one Turkish woman married a British man.
Cupid Clicks his Fingers?
Social networks and online dating have been cited as the principle ingredients for love that transcends land and sea.
Urban hubs such as Istanbul, where ADSL is evermore a household item and Internet cafes abound, seem natural fertile ground for Internet romance. What surprised me is that this rush of foreign attraction took place in the small seaside resort of Didim. The answer? Tourism!
Small Town Love
Over the past decade, Brits have begun to buy holiday homes in Didim, establishing a visible community of many thousands, to the extent that utility bills in the district are now printed in English as well as Turkish. You can see the Union Jack and other British flags all around Didim, especially in the bars.
So Turkish man meets British woman, she goes home for the summer, and Bob’s your uncle – technology enables them to maintain contact until he pops the question.
Putting Marriage on the Map
Modern technology adds a foreign tint to ancient tradition in other parts of Turkey too, even in the most unlikely of places. The Yildirim Internet café in Gokce, a small village with a population of just 3200, near Turkey’s southern border with Syria has become the local lonely-hearts club.
Turkish men in the village pour into the café to surf for wives online and thanks to Turkey’s increased visibility in the middle east the potential Turkish husband has become quite a catch.
Turkey’s immigration laws enable Moroccan citizens to enter Turkey without a visa. In 2009, 10 Moroccan brides, including a 45-year-old who married a man 30 years her senior arrived in Gocke to get married. All were second wives, and more than a dozen more are expected to arrive in the coming year.
Are you a Turkish man married to a foreign woman? Or are a foreign woman married to a Turkish man? Feel free to enlighten us!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
As a Turk from Didim, I must say that most of the guys who marry to British women are Kurdish, not Turkish. They do that because they want British citizenship to go to E.U. or U.K. easily. And I must say, If you check ‘em out carefully most of the Kurdish guys are very young, but British women are much older. So, this shows us the real picture.
I’m 35 and I was born and raised in Didim, I had good education in Ankara and now I live in New York City and I’m married to an American woman. But I didn’t meet her in Didim. I met her when I came to the U.S. for my grad school. Anyways…
Every summer I go to Didim (all my parents and relatives live in there) and I can’t stand seeing my beautiful village turns to hell. Believe me most of the native Turkish families from Didim are thinking the same as I am. Unfortunately Didim is under siege of Brits & Kurds. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not racist. But lately huge numbers of British holiday sites-resorts popped out. Ugly buildings are threatening the nature of Didim. Because of Brits, more Kurds are coming to Didim. Most of those Kurds are uneducated and they cause lots of troubles. By the way Brits who choose to come to Didim don’t seem well educated to me either. It looks like Didim is becoming lower class British people’s home in Turkey. That’s not good…
Didim is turning to an ugly city and I want my beautiful hometown village back.
Thanks so much – it’s so great to hear from a man who lives in Didim. We cover so many topics we find in the news and it’s always so fascinating to hear from the people that live in the places we write about.
Article is a superficial description. Comment of Kayhan is a thorough analysis. Thanks for both.