A SEASIDE VIEW: Please ban English breakfast in Marmaris!
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Sedat Kırt
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 27, 2009 00:00
Marmaris - The female members of the Christian Community in Marmaris league get together every Wednesday and have a kind of "braimstorming". They aim to become more informed about each other’s problems, discuss daily matters and try to find solutions and share opinions.
This week they hosted Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review at their "Coffee & Craft Morning" between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. in their chapel. Hosted by very warmly by Danny and Barbara Malone, all the ladies seemed comfortable and sincere to answer our questions. The European women, who are mainly from the UK and Germany, had many things to talk about but the "hot topics" were the rapid growth of Marmaris, and the marriages between young Turkish men and old European women.
While most of the participants of the coffee meeting were British and German ladies, they all had the common link of being married to Turkish men for a long time ago and knowing Marmaris for many years. They agreed that the small fishermen town was so much prettier in the 80s compared to today and most have changed in 20 years time. Being a destination mainly for UK tourists, now Marmaris seems more like a British city than a Turkish one, which disturbs the European inhabitants. The British expats in the area are most disturbed and have been missing the real Turkish culture. "Where are the Turkish restaurants and food, where are the tea houses and why did the Turkish culture become lost? What happened to traditional Turkish folk music? Why does everybody have to listen to English pop music or only "Kiss Kiss?" and many more questions like these. And the striking words came after the series of questions, again from a British lady: "Someone should tell the Mayor to ban English breakfasts and fish & chips in Marmaris!" which raised them all in laughter.
Cheap tourism, the all inclusive system in very small hotels, undeclared employment, low service quality and traffic chaos were among the matters foreign women discussed at their meeting. A very interesting argument that would probably cause long discussions if Turkish authorities voiced was about the tourists’ semi-nude style of dress on the streets or in the supermarkets. The European women clearly declared that they felt disturbed when they saw the tourist women in the markets only in a bikini or male tourists only wearing swimming trunks.
The common ideas that the group members’ agreed to and suggested were a kind of advice to the tourism authorities in the city; "One aspect of tourism that we feel is important would be for Marmaris to be a family oriented destination for Europeans. As Christians, we would like to see a wholesome atmosphere that is honorable and respectful that will set a good example to other cities. Sport tourism, cultural tourism, and eco tourism, Biblical, historical tourism would be beneficial to Turkey. We believe Turkey and Marmaris specifically, have so much to offer and enjoy, that many people do not learn about or consider for a holiday destination."
Beside tourism, they sincerely sent a message to the mayor Ali Acar to be a part of the works of the municipality for serving their city; "As a group of foreigners who have settled in this city, we look forward to working with the Marmaris Municipality in promoting a healthy and honorable lifestyle for residents and a respectable destination for visitors."
The owners of all these opinions and suggestions in the small chapel were the "foreign brides" of Marmaris, with at least 15 years living in the city. So, they know the situations of the past and present situation and can easily compare them. Dramatically, they all miss the old times of the city as old Turkish people often do.
And they can see the difference between the time they fell in love with their Turkish husbands and today’s "quick-loves". Reading exaggerated "Turkish young men-European old woman love stories" in European tabloid magazines every summer distresses them, as there are many true loves and happy marriages with Turkish men. Particularly, the relations ending with the tears of desperate women who leave everything back at home for love, but are soon abandoned by the young Turkish men that creates wrong images of Turkey, however, the European Turkish women put most of the blame on their mature fellows. The sensibility of the European citizens of Marmaris on both sides directs them to discuss how to help, even on such emotional cases at their weekly meetings.
While most of the participants of the coffee meeting were British and German ladies, they all had the common link of being married to Turkish men for a long time ago and knowing Marmaris for many years. They agreed that the small fishermen town was so much prettier in the 80s compared to today and most have changed in 20 years time. Being a destination mainly for UK tourists, now Marmaris seems more like a British city than a Turkish one, which disturbs the European inhabitants. The British expats in the area are most disturbed and have been missing the real Turkish culture. "Where are the Turkish restaurants and food, where are the tea houses and why did the Turkish culture become lost? What happened to traditional Turkish folk music? Why does everybody have to listen to English pop music or only "Kiss Kiss?" and many more questions like these. And the striking words came after the series of questions, again from a British lady: "Someone should tell the Mayor to ban English breakfasts and fish & chips in Marmaris!" which raised them all in laughter.
Cheap tourism, the all inclusive system in very small hotels, undeclared employment, low service quality and traffic chaos were among the matters foreign women discussed at their meeting. A very interesting argument that would probably cause long discussions if Turkish authorities voiced was about the tourists’ semi-nude style of dress on the streets or in the supermarkets. The European women clearly declared that they felt disturbed when they saw the tourist women in the markets only in a bikini or male tourists only wearing swimming trunks.
The common ideas that the group members’ agreed to and suggested were a kind of advice to the tourism authorities in the city; "One aspect of tourism that we feel is important would be for Marmaris to be a family oriented destination for Europeans. As Christians, we would like to see a wholesome atmosphere that is honorable and respectful that will set a good example to other cities. Sport tourism, cultural tourism, and eco tourism, Biblical, historical tourism would be beneficial to Turkey. We believe Turkey and Marmaris specifically, have so much to offer and enjoy, that many people do not learn about or consider for a holiday destination."
Beside tourism, they sincerely sent a message to the mayor Ali Acar to be a part of the works of the municipality for serving their city; "As a group of foreigners who have settled in this city, we look forward to working with the Marmaris Municipality in promoting a healthy and honorable lifestyle for residents and a respectable destination for visitors."
The owners of all these opinions and suggestions in the small chapel were the "foreign brides" of Marmaris, with at least 15 years living in the city. So, they know the situations of the past and present situation and can easily compare them. Dramatically, they all miss the old times of the city as old Turkish people often do.
And they can see the difference between the time they fell in love with their Turkish husbands and today’s "quick-loves". Reading exaggerated "Turkish young men-European old woman love stories" in European tabloid magazines every summer distresses them, as there are many true loves and happy marriages with Turkish men. Particularly, the relations ending with the tears of desperate women who leave everything back at home for love, but are soon abandoned by the young Turkish men that creates wrong images of Turkey, however, the European Turkish women put most of the blame on their mature fellows. The sensibility of the European citizens of Marmaris on both sides directs them to discuss how to help, even on such emotional cases at their weekly meetings.