As a Turk I don't know what to say to some of things were said in this tread. Some people have really confused about Turkey and some just myths I've heard before. I guess I will just stay out of those topics which could draw me into meaningless back and forths with people seemingly has more knowledge about my county than me.
Let me introduce myself briefly. I was born in Bursa/Turkey and moved to United States when I was 22 years old. That's where I live now. I go back every couple of years to visit friends and family. Maybe I may move back but that decision is not solely up to me. As for the roots go I have quite the information. My father's side is native to where I am from. But from a branch that accepted non-nomadic lifestyle relatively later than others so they have more turkic features. Small eyes, less facial hair, slim body etc. Since where I am from got so much migration from balkans they also have some of that as well. My father's grandmother's father was born in Burgas Bulgaria. My mom's side has tatar roots. Their grandparents migrated from Chrimea. My wife's family is from Dagestan her grandparents still speak their native language. She is from the neighboring town which has a lot of caucasian migrants. See Anatolia is a melting pot, lots of diversity. But unlike other countries communities are not seperated. In highschool for example I could count numerous backgrounds just in our class but as for identitiy and values there are no distinctions. We were talking about this the other day with a classmate of mine. I recall going to her home for a project we supposed to do and her grandmother was speaking Georgian to her mother. She gave me the news that granny was still alive and well. In Turkey people do not identify themselves with their grandparents roots etc. They identify themselves with the city they are from. That is the most profound thing that separates communities in Turkey.
For some reason people also believe most Turks are crazy about Turan and that kind of ideologies etc. And this is also not true. See this is a defense forum. And the profile of people you are going to see here does not represent the geneal population. BBP the party that puts Turan highly in their ideology has less than %1 of the vote for example. Also there are a lot of diversity in every party's voting pool. Not %100 of AKP voters are neo-ottoman etc.
As for religion. Turkey is also very diverse on thay as well. For example I am an agnostic, non-muslim Turk. I have friends that are more and less religious than me. I was always open about my religious beliefs. Whoever knew me also knew that I wasn't religious at all. Did I receive any discrimination? None. Unless you are at the extreme ends of the spectrum religion does not play a part in relationships of people. My wife's family is very religious for example. Let me tell a story from the last visit. It was ramadan eid. I decided to stay the last day of ramdan in my wife's families village. Me and her decided we would spend the eid breakfast there. Then at noon visit my grandfather in my town. In small villages like that eid prayers are a big deal. That's where whole townsfolk celebrate each others eid etc. It was also an opportunity for her grandfather to introduce me to his friends. Previous night my mother in law came to me. She said maybe it's better you come in the morning because if you do not go to morning prayers with the grandpa he may whine about it. I said I will go to prayers with him no problem. See I didn't want to take away the pride he is gonna have while introducing me to his friends. Same with your friends. I don't like to drink alcohol alone. But with friends I enjoy it a lot. We usually get together and go somewhere to drink. In ramadan some stop drinking for a month. Some do not. Nobody judges another. We all love each other like brothers.
When I moved to US. I got to know a lot of pakistanis. I have several good friends that I constantly in touch. Before I didn't have any idea about their culture etc. I must say common pakistani is a lot more conservative that a common turk. That's for sure. But what I like about them is they are not hypocrites like most arabs. Arabs have a lot of contradictioins in what they say and what they do. Pakistanis are not like that. Arabs like to talk about religion a lot and try to export their opinions and act otherwise. Pakistanis do not talk as much and behave as they talk. A lot more sincere and honest. They are mostly friendly and easy to connect with. As for the food. I have seen a post that shows similarities in food. I do not agree with it. I tried pakistani food a lot. Even though some look similar taste completely different. Even though some pakistani dishes taste similar to indian ones pakistanis dont have the body odor of indians that is caused by food. I have some indian friends no matter how I like them it is really hard to travel with them in a car. I cant find a way how to approach this situation cause I know that it is not intentional. They just dont realise it.
All these observations and opinions however is not concrete. I cannot have concrete opinions without spending considerable time in pakistan. There is always difference between mainlanders and diaspora. That is why europeans surprise when they meet turks from turkey instead of the ones live in europe. Pakistan is one country I would like to visit one day. When I find the opportunity I will visit here and ask for suggestions.
