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Post by Vizier of Oz on Jul 9, 2010 2:01:12 GMT -5
Aegean Ties to Antiquity By J. S. MARCUS PEOPLE IN THE wine world cannot stop talking about terroir. Used to describe everything from a winegrowing region's annual rainfall to the kind of lunch the local vineyard workers like to eat, the word is a slightly highbrow way to say, in effect, "around here." Not surprisingly, it is just about the first word that Resit Soley, one of Turkey's newest and best winemakers, uses to sum up the unique aspects of Bozcaada, the windswept Aegean island where his winemaking venture, Corvus Vineyards, has been producing fine wines since 2004. But for once, terroir, in all its grandeur, falls short. Bozcaada, as it turns out, is not just a piece of land -- it is the stuff of myth. Resit Soley with his family Known for millennia by its Greek name, Tenedos, the island is mentioned in both the Illiad and the Aeneid. Long famed for its wine (and, according to legend, as a sanctuary of the god Apollo), the island maintained its Greek identity, its vineyards, and its ties to antiquity, all the way up until 1960s, when most of the remaining ethnic Greeks, who got caught up in the Turkish-Greek conflict over Cyprus, left for good. The vineyards, often in the same families for generations, were sold off, and Turkey's state-controlled alcohol industry proceeded to use the island's once-precious grapes as the raw material for cheap brandy. Now, thanks in large part to Mr. Soley, who has revived local varietals and brought in technological innovations, the island is once again attracting attention for wine. "Actually we are not making wine," insists Mr. Soley, over tea in an outdoor cafe near Istanbul's Tunel Square. "We are making some kind of archaeological restoration." Turkish winemaker Resit Soley on the island of Bozcaada and his Corvus vineyardHistory, both distant and recent, is on Mr. Soley's side. One of his most acclaimed new wines, a light, dry white called Cavus, is made from a local table grape, which the islanders had been growing for centuries, but which he decided to turn into wine for the first time. And this year, his business got a tremendous boost when the government dropped a whopping 63% luxury tax from fine wines. On New Year's Eve, he recalls, "we got the news" and "sales are getting better every day. "We are up over 30% since last year," he adds. These days, Resit Soley, 53 years old, may be the public face of Turkey's booming boutique winery scene, but for decades he was one of his country's best-known architects. His Istanbul firm, Leo Design, is responsible for several of the skyscrapers that make up Istanbul's Maslak business district. Architecture, it turns out, has been great training for making wine. "When you do a building you have the elevators, you have the staircases, you have the piping system," he says. "It's the same here. Making wine for me is like a project, like building a house or a high rise." When Mr. Soley, who had been spending time on the island since the 1980s, first pieced together a modern winemaking facility, combining smaller traditional vineyards, some 28 acres of new plantings, and a state-owned factory left over from the island's industrial-alcohol days, he sought out experts around the world. "As an architect, I worked with the technical guys," he says. And when it came to figuring out how to grow grapes and then turn them into wine, he wanted to find out "who knows more than the others." He got advice about irrigation from Israelis ("They do it best," he says), and advice about working with local varietals from a northern Italian winemaker. "We started to work with Pier Giorgio Berta of Piedmont," he says. "It was really something for him to come to this lost island and work with these lost grapes. It was a challenge for him and for me, and we made it." Although decades of badly managed vineyards meant that "local wine culture was lost," it turned out that the island had a built-in advantage -- sunny days and cool, windy nights. "This is hot-climate winemaking," he says, comparing Bozcaada's conditions to southern Spain or Sicily. "The difference is at night, when the dew comes. By 9 p.m., the vineyard gets wet," he says. "And early in the morning, the wind dries it, and drying means cooling. This very special microclimate is what made the island wines famous, once upon a time." In addition to Cavus grapes, Mr. Soley has revived two other local varietals, called Kuntra and Karalahna, for making red wines. He says the island's conditions are especially suited to late-harvest reds with a high-alcohol content, but they also allow him to make a naturally sweet wine, called Passito. Istanbul's celebrity chef, Mehmet Gurs, known for combining Scandinavian and Anatolian cuisine at his rooftop restaurant, Mikla, likes Corvus's blended reds, which change every growing season, and are given sequential numbers. Mr. Soley is currently selling market blend No. 3, and putting No. 4 and No. 5 in wooden tanks. "He takes care of his grapes," says Mr. Gurs of Mr. Soley. "And it shows." Bozcaada isn't the only isolated setting for making fine Turkish wines, says Isa Bal, the Turkish-born sommelier at The Fat Duck, chef Heston Blumenthal's three-star Michelin restaurant located in Bray, England. "There is a small village in the heart of Turkey called Guney," says Mr. Bal, where Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc grapes do very well in the high altitude. He recommends Guney wines made by Sevilen, an Izmir-based winemaker. "They make a fabulous Syrah called Centum," he says, and "a world-class" Sauvignon Blanc called 900. The interior of Wine & BiteMr. Soley's concern for his wine has led him to phase out cork in favor of screw caps, making him the very first premium Turkish winemaker to do so. The highest quality cork is usually reserved for French and Italian winemakers, he says. And if a cork goes bad, "the effect is horrible," especially on white wines, like the delicate Cavus. "That stupid cork can ruin everything." When he first planned his bottling facilities in 2003, he made sure he could use cork in the short-term and screw caps in the medium and long-term. He learned his lesson, he says, from architecture. "You cannot build a building to last five years," he says. "You have to create it for the future." —J.S. Marcus is a writer based in Berlin. online.wsj.com/article/SB127862204308614905.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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Patrinos
Amicus
Peloponnesos uber alles
Posts: 4,763
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Post by Patrinos on Jul 9, 2010 3:59:21 GMT -5
the article doesn't explain how Greeks were persecuted.. and how the Turk convicts were transported and established there... the majority of the Turks living there today are offspring of these convicts.
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Post by todhrimencuri on Jul 9, 2010 14:48:28 GMT -5
Turkey is truly a beautiful place. I really cant wait to visit it ASAP.
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Post by hellboy87 on Jul 10, 2010 12:20:37 GMT -5
This island must be part of Greece!!!
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Post by todhrimencuri on Jul 10, 2010 13:24:02 GMT -5
Its sad, you c Turks embracing the old heritage of the island and all you read is this bs. Its amazing to see how much more tolerant peaceful and open Turks are than their neighbors.
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Post by hellboy87 on Jul 11, 2010 17:57:06 GMT -5
Its too good to be under the hands of inferiority! So it must belong to Greece!
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Post by thracian08 on Jul 12, 2010 13:05:07 GMT -5
hahah, you are a complete idiot HB, I hope when u go to Greece someday, you'll see the discrimination you'll face b/c culturally Greeks aren't superior. In fact, they are very racist, esp towards blacks and indian looking ppl like u! Greek friends even told me from there this.
Greece doesn't have industry, they only have tourism. Did u know that the olive oil is produced in Turkey, and a stamp is placed that it's made in Greece? B/c they have to have exports. They are also lazy, they are not hardworkers. They sucked the EU money and benefits, but didn't earn it. Shops are not open all the time either b/c they take long brakes or are closed. U should go there and see for yourself HB before speaking.
Turkey on the other hand is hard working in comparison. Shops are open weekdays and weekends. Turkey has a strong industry as well. We are the 2nd largest growing econmy in the world behind China.
And to the Greeks out there, I don't hate Greek people, I have many Greek friends. I'm just stating the facts.
Thanks Toski, I totally agree with you, not b/c I'm Turkish, but b/c historically what u say is correct!
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Patrinos
Amicus
Peloponnesos uber alles
Posts: 4,763
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Post by Patrinos on Jul 12, 2010 13:33:43 GMT -5
hahah, you are a complete idiot HB, I hope when u go to Greece someday, you'll see the discrimination you'll face b/c culturally Greeks aren't superior. In fact, they are very racist, esp towards blacks and indian looking ppl like u! Greek friends even told me from there this. Greece doesn't have industry, they only have tourism. Did u know that the olive oil is produced in Turkey, and a stamp is placed that it's made in Greece? B/c they have to have exports. They are also lazy, they are not hardworkers. They sucked the EU money and benefits, but didn't earn it. Shops are not open all the time either b/c they take long brakes or are closed. U should go there and see for yourself HB before speaking. Turkey on the other hand is hard working in comparison. Shops are open weekdays and weekends. Turkey has a strong industry as well. We are the 2nd largest growing econmy in the world behind China. And to the Greeks out there, I don't hate Greek people, I have many Greek friends. I'm just stating the facts. Thanks Toski, I totally agree with you, not b/c I'm Turkish, but b/c historically what u say is correct! if you Turks are hard working people(haha...nargile and aralik...) then why the 90% of your people live in third world conditions... and if you work that much and produce that much(even our olive oil ) you shouldn't be in that condition as people... are you hayvans? the subject is where this growing goes...and for sure it doesn't go to the majority of the Turk citizens..
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Post by todhrimencuri on Jul 12, 2010 13:50:10 GMT -5
Turks in the Balkans have a long history of progressiveness and tolerance. This fact hurts those around you guys.
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Post by thracian08 on Jul 12, 2010 14:15:44 GMT -5
Most Greeks live outside Greece Patrinos.
Go to Turkey and see for yourself how hardworking Turks and then talk.
There are 70 Million Turks in Turkey
There are 5 Million Turks in Germany, and there are few in USA and other European countries.
The massive majority of Turks live in Turkey.
What condition, are you joking?? Turkey is not classifed as 3rd world, it is classified as a developed country.
Macro-economic trends Turkey has the world's 15th largest GDP-PPPand 17th largest Nominal GDP. The country is a founding member of the OECD (1961) and the G-20 major economies (1999). Since December 31, 1995, Turkey is also a part of the EU Customs Union.
The CIA classifies Turkey as a developed country.Turkey is often classified as a newly industrialized country by economists and political scientists; while Merrill Lynch, the World Bank and The Economist magazine describe Turkey as an emerging market economy.
The World Bank classifies Turkey as an upper-middle income country in terms of the country's per capita GDP in 2007. According to a survey by Forbes magazine, Istanbul, Turkey's financial capital, had a total of 35 billionaires as of March 2008 (up from 25 in 2007), ranking 4th in the world behind Moscow (74 billionaires), New York City (71 billionaires) and London (36 billionaires).
Turkey produces tvs, cars, textiles, dishwashers, electronics. What does Greece produce?
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Post by thracian08 on Jul 12, 2010 14:23:12 GMT -5
The economy of Turkey is largely developed. The country is among the world's leading producers of agricultural products; textiles; motor vehicles, ships and other transportation equipment; construction materials; consumer electronics and home appliances. In recent years, Turkey had a rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in industry, banking, transport, and communications.
Industrial sector [edit] Consumer electronics and home appliances Turkish brands like BEKO and Vestel are among the largest producers of consumer electronics and home appliances in Europe.Turkey's Vestel Electronics is the largest TV producer in Europe, accounting for 21% of all TV sets manufactured and sold on the continent in 2007. [27] By January 2005, Vestel and its rival Turkish electronics and white goods brand BEKO accounted for more than half of all TV sets manufactured in Europe.[28] Another Turkish electronics brand, Profilo-Telra, was Europe's third largest TV producer in 2005.[29] EU market share of Turkish companies in consumer electronics has increased significantly following the Customs Union agreement signed between the EU and Turkey: in color TVs from 5% in 1995 to more than 50% in 2005, in digital devices from 3% to 15%, and in white goods from 3% to 18%.
[edit] Textiles and clothing Turkish companies made clothing exports worth $13.98 billion in 2006; more than $10.67 billion of which (76.33%) were made to the EU member states.[30]
[edit] Motor vehicles and automotive products Main article: Automotive industry in Turkey Etox is a Turkish sports car brand, based in Ankara.Turkey has a large and growing automotive industry, which produced 1,024,987 motor vehicles in 2006,[31] ranking as the 7th largest automotive producer in Europe; behind Germany (5,819,614), France (3,174,260), Spain (2,770,435), the United Kingdom (1,648,388), Russia (1,508,358) and Italy (1,211,594), respectively.[32]
In 2008 Turkey produced 1,147,110 motor vehicles, ranking as the 6th largest producer in Europe (behind the United Kingdom and above Italy) and the 15th largest producer in the world.[33][34]
Turkish automotive companies like TEMSA, Otokar and BMC are among the world's largest van, bus and truck manufacturers.The automotive industry is an important part of the economy since the late 1960s. The companies that operate in the sector are mainly located in the Marmara Region. With a cluster of car-makers and parts suppliers, the Turkish automotive sector has become an integral part of the global network of production bases, exporting over $22,944,000,000 worth of motor vehicles and components in 2008.[35][36]
[edit] Shipbuilding Turkey is also one of the leading shipbuilding nations; in 2007 Turkish shipyards ranked 4th in the world (behind China, South Korea and Japan) in terms of the number of ordered ships, and also 4th in the world (behind Italy, USA and Canada) in terms of the number of ordered mega yachts.[37]
[edit] Construction and contracting sector Main article: Turkish Construction and Contracting Industry The Turkish construction and contracting industry is one of the leading, most competitive and dynamic construction/contracting industries in the world. In 2007 a total of 22 Turkish construction/contracting companies were selected for the Top International Contractors List prepared by the Engineering News-Record, which made the Turkish construction/contracting industry the world's 3rd largest, ranking behind those of the USA and China.[38]
[edit] Service sector [edit] Transport Main article: Transport in Turkey TCDD high speed train.As of 2009, there were 102 airports (90 with paved runways and 12 with unpaved runways) in Turkey, including the six international airports in Istanbul, Ankara, Ýzmir, Trabzon, Dalaman and Antalya.[39] There were also 21 heliports in the country during the same year.[39]
The rail network was 8,697 km in 2008, including 2,133 km of electrified track.[39] The Turkish State Railways started building high-speed rail lines in 2003. The first line, which has a length of 533 km from Istanbul (Turkey's largest metropolis) via Eskiþehir to Ankara (the capital) is under construction and will reduce the travelling time from 6–7 hours to 3 hours and 10 minutes. The Ankara-Eskiþehir section of the line, which has a length of 245 km and a projected travel time of 65 minutes, is completed. Trials began on April 23, 2007, and revenue earning service began on March 13, 2009. The Eskiþehir-Istanbul section of the line is scheduled to be completed by 2009, and includes the Marmaray tunnel which will enter service in 2012 and establish the first direct railway connection between Europe and Anatolia.
In 2006 the country had a roadway network of 426,951 km, including 1,987 km of expressways, ranking 13th in the world.[39]
As of 2008, the Turkish merchant marine included 612 ships, ranking 19th in the world.[39] Turkey's coastline has 1,200 km of navigable waterways.[39]
In 2008, 7,555 km of natural gas pipelines and 3,636 km of petroleum pipelines spanned the country's territory.[39]
[edit] Communications Main article: Communications in Turkey As of 2008, there were 17,502,000 operational main line telephones in Turkey, which ranked 18th in the world;[39] while there were 65,824,000 registered cell phones in the country, which ranked 15th in the world during the same year.[39]
The telecommunications liberalisation process started in 2004 after the creation of the Telecommunication Authority, and is still ongoing. Private sector companies operate in mobile telephony, long distance telephony and Internet access. Additional digital exchanges are permitting a rapid increase in subscribers; the construction of a network of technologically advanced intercity trunk lines, using both fiber-optic cable and digital microwave radio relay, is facilitating communication between urban centers.[39] The remote areas of the country are reached by a domestic satellite system, while the number of subscribers to mobile-cellular telephone service is growing rapidly.[39]
The main line international telephone service is provided by the SEA-ME-WE-3 submarine cable and by submarine fiber-optic cables in the Mediterranean and Black Seas that link Turkey with Italy, Greece, Israel, Bulgaria, Romania, and Russia.[39] In 2002, there were 12 Intelsat satellite earth stations; and 328 mobile satellite terminals in the Inmarsat and Eutelsat systems.[39]
As of 2001, there were 16 AM, 107 FM, and 6 shortwave radio stations in the country.[39]
As of 2008, there were 24,483,000 internet users in Turkey, which ranked 15th in the world;[39] while as of 2009, there were 2,961,000 internet hosts in the country, which ranked 27th in the world.[39]
[edit] Tourism sector Main article: Tourism in Turkey Esenboða International Airport in Ankara.Tourism is one of the most dynamic and fastest developing sectors in Turkey. According to travel agencies TUI AG and Thomas Cook, 11 of the 100 best hotels of the world are located in Turkey.[40] In 2005, there were 24,124,501 visitors to the country, who contributed $18.2 billion to Turkey's revenues, with an average expenditure of $679 per tourist.[41] In 2008, the number of visitors rose to 30,929,192, who contributed $21.9 billion to Turkey's revenues.[42] Over the years, Turkey has emerged as a popular tourist destination for many Europeans, competing with Greece, Italy and Spain. Resorts in provinces such as Antalya and Muðla (which are located on the Turkish Riviera) have become very popular among European tourists.
[edit] Financial sector The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyet Merkez Bankasý) was founded in 1930, as a privileged joint-stock company. It possesses the sole right to issue notes. It also has the obligation to provide for the monetary requirements of the state agricultural and commercial enterprises. All foreign exchange transfers are exclusively handled by the central bank.
Originally established as the Ottoman Stock Exchange (Dersaadet Tahvilat Borsasý) in 1866, and reorganized to its current structure at the beginning of 1986, the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) is the sole securities market of Turkey.[43] During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Street) in Istanbul was the financial center of the Ottoman Empire, where the headquarters of the Ottoman Central Bank (established as the Bank-ý Osmanî in 1856, and later reorganized as the Bank-ý Osmanî-i Þahane in 1863)[44] and the Ottoman Stock Exchange (1866) were located.[45] Bankalar Caddesi continued to be Istanbul's main financial district until the 1990s, when most Turkish banks began moving their headquarters to the modern central business districts of Levent and Maslak.[45] In 1995, the Istanbul Stock Exchange moved to its current building in the Istinye quarter.[46] The Istanbul Gold Exchange was also established in 1995. The stock market capitalisation of listed companies in Turkey was valued at $161,537,000,000 in 2005 by the World Bank.[47]
Maslak financial district in Istanbul.In 1998, there were 72 banks in Turkey. [citation needed] In late 2000 and early 2001 a growing trade deficit and weaknesses in the banking sector plunged the economy into crisis. There was a recession followed by the floating of the lira. This financial breakdown brought the number of banks to 31. [citation needed] Currently more than 34% of the assets are concentrated in the Agricultural Bank (Ziraat Bankasý), Housing Bank (Yapý Kredi Bankasý), Isbank (Türkiye Ýþ Bankasý) and Akbank. The five big state-owned banks were restructured in 2001. Political involvement was minimized and loaning policies were changed. There are also numerous international banks, which have branches in Turkey. A number of Arabian trading banks, which practice an Islamic banking, are also present in the country.
Government regulations passed in 1929 required all insurance companies to reinsure 30% of each policy with the Millî Reasürans T.A.Þ. (National Reinsurance Corporation) which was founded on February 26, 1929.[48] In 1954, life insurance was exempted from this requirement. The insurance market is officially regulated through the Ministry of Commerce.
Levent financial district in Istanbul.After years of low levels of foreign direct investment (FDI), in 2007 Turkey succeeded in attracting $21.9 billion in FDI and is expected to attract a higher figure in following years.[49] A series of large privatizations, the stability fostered by the start of Turkey’s EU accession negotiations, strong and stable growth, and structural changes in the banking, retail, and telecommunications sectors have all contributed to the rise in foreign investment. [citation needed]
Since 2003, the inflation has lowered to single digits, and the economy is showing an average growth of 7.8%, between 2002-2005. Fiscal deficit is benefiting (though in small amount) from large industry privatizations. Banking came under stress beginning in October 2008 as Turkish banking authorities warned state-run banks against the pullback of loans from the larger financial sectors [50].
In recent years, the chronically high inflation has been brought under control and this has led to the launch of a new currency, the "New Turkish lira", on January 1, 2005, to cement the acquisition of the economic reforms and erase the vestiges of an unstable economy.[51] On January 1, 2009, the New Turkish lira was renamed once again as the "Turkish lira", with the introduction of new banknotes and coins.
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Dèsîŗĕ Yèarning
Senior Moderator
Simarik Turkish Pwincess
Know yourself...
Posts: 3,563
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Post by Dèsîŗĕ Yèarning on Jul 12, 2010 20:02:49 GMT -5
Yea, good question, what does Greece produce?
Seriously?
By the way, since when do 90% of Turks live in 3rd world conditions? Thats a very ignorant statement. Have you even visited 1% of Turkey to make a generalization like that?
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Post by tsompanos on Jul 13, 2010 4:57:16 GMT -5
turkian , there might live more greeks outside of greece but atleast wherever we greeks go we get into high positions while turks wherever they go they use the term turk as something bad
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Dèsîŗĕ Yèarning
Senior Moderator
Simarik Turkish Pwincess
Know yourself...
Posts: 3,563
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Post by Dèsîŗĕ Yèarning on Jul 13, 2010 10:37:07 GMT -5
Turk term is used as bad?!! I remember at university they taught us the term 'Young Turk' it made a few of my Greek Cypriot friends quite angry. Now would you also state to me, what the word Greek is associated with
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Post by Kastorianos on Jul 13, 2010 12:04:26 GMT -5
The word Turk is in Germany used as sth bad, too. It stands for unsocial (in terms of not integrated), backward, stupid...not welcome. The turkish language is not very popular with the Germans. In contrast to Italian or even Greek for example...
The term Greek is associated with easy way of life, culture, national proudness but also arrogance...and lately...bankruptcy. ;D
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Post by thracian08 on Jul 13, 2010 12:28:55 GMT -5
Speaking of higher positions, come to the USA, you'll see Turkish doctors, engineers, and business people!
In fact, in Silicon Valley, Turks are known as excellent engineers !
You sound pathetic.
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Post by Kastorianos on Jul 13, 2010 12:38:07 GMT -5
I dont know one turkish professor...here in Frankfurt we have in the juridical faculty a Greek one....Prof. Dr. Dr. Spiros Simitis...the brother of the former prime minister...he is regarded to be one of the best.
In hospitals...very many Greek professors, too...in the leading positions. Turks? Nowhere... and I mean...we have 5 mio Turks here...and how many Greeks? Less than 300.000.
Turks were never known for mental strength...I mean look at yourself thracian.... in ottoman times it was Greeks and Armenians who took over the jobs which required knowledge and education...traditionally.
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Post by thracian08 on Jul 13, 2010 12:47:30 GMT -5
Germany isn't representative of Turks for your information. The villagers from Turkey went there to seek a better life. And to add to that they faced racism and discrimnation from Germans. The 3rd generation is much more educated than the first of course.
Your IQ must be sooo low, as you only talk about Turks in Germany, as if they represent the entire Turkish population in the world, in Turkey there are 70 Million people.
There are numerous Turks who are professors, engineers, businessmen, and doctors in the USA, so isolating Germany Turks doesn't help to prove your point.
Greeks are lazy, aren't productive, and you think you're more educated??
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Post by thracian08 on Jul 13, 2010 12:51:55 GMT -5
No it was the Greeks and Armenians that were the businessman, they were not more educated. They don't have anything to do with each other.
The educated ones were Turks in the gov't. My Grandfather's family owned their own medrese - University actually. I have a family tree going back to 500 years all written in Arabic script!
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Post by Kastorianos on Jul 13, 2010 13:14:22 GMT -5
Why is it important if the Turks here are villagers or not? No one is treated unjustly in this country..equal opportunity for everyone ....most Greeks are from villages, too. Why do you have to be from the city in order to become an educated person? Perhaps this goes for Turks...but not for Europeans. Germany is not representative? We have 5 mio of yours here...what are you talking there.. There was a German study on that by the government....according to it after Poles, Greeks are the most educated foreigners in Germany...and the least educated? Turks. By far.. Greeks and Armenians were not only businessmen but also ministers...next to the Sultan...the Sultan did traditionally take Greeks as translators when he communicated with heads of foreign countries...generally the Greeks had high positions in the Empire...they had a lot of power actually. Thats why the Sultan was beside himself with rage when the Greek revolution broke out...he regarded it to be a great betrayal of trust.
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