This is Turkey, where when your car spectacularly blows a turbo in the middle of road works at 2 o’clock in the morning and dies in an impressive cloud of black smoke the people in the car behind stop and help.
This is Turkey where sitting in a broken down car in the stygian gloom of a moonless night, miles from the nearest town and with only a sleeping dog for protection isn’t anything to worry about.
This is Turkey, where a transfer driver, instead of crawling into his nice warm bed at 2am after a late night glass of cay gets into his brand new and sparkling clean car and picks up two middle aged and two junior (but very stressed) yabanci and a moulting Labrador and drives them 150km to a village he has never heard of.
This is Turkey, where when you ring the really nice bloke who runs Europcar in Kusadasi and who you used to hire cars from several years ago and ask for a car now, today, and can you make it cheap please he says “Yes, no problem, come and pick it up in an hour.”
This is Turkey, where when you go to collect your hire car and ask the aforesaid nice bloke at Europcar in Kusadasi if he knows a recovery company he says “Yes, no problem, we’ll ring someone now.”
This is Turkey, where you can give a car recovery driver pathetic directions – it’s somewhere in the twenty miles of road works between Milas and Pinarcik, I don’t know where, it was dark! – he goes and finds your car and then brings it back to your village and negotiates the narrow village streets and drops it right outside your door.
This is Turkey, people moan about it, some people seem scared of it, but this society is full of nice people and they help and they are kind and they get things done without fanfare and health and safety bullies hanging on their every action and when you need them you can count on them.
So a very big thank you –
To the couple on their honeymoon to Altinkum who let their driver pull over and help us – may your marriage be long and happy.
To that unknown transfer driver from Altinkum who drove an extra 300 km that night to get us home and kept reassuring my tearful daughter that all would be fine (she believed him more than she would ever believe me!) – you deserve every success.
To Bora at Europcar in Kusadasi for being a really nice man and for giving us a great rate and for providing a car and a recovery truck and generally being fantastic – I have always recommended you, and now I recommend you even more!
To my daughter and her boyfriend who didn’t let a lousy start to their holiday spoil the week and who where brilliant fun and a joy to have around – a week isn’t enough, we need longer!
And to Turkey, because when you break down in circumstances like that you basically leave yourself wide open to massive charges and costs likely to bankrupt you, yet nobody overcharged us, nobody ripped us off and everybody went out of their way to help – this is why I like living here!
Yay! This post just made my day! I’m sorry about all the car trouble, but I’m so happy to hear about all the people who came out in various ways to help you out. Such a lovely ending!
People are so nice, my daughter and her boyfriend couldn’t believe how much people will help here. Nobody would have stopped in the UK, the recovery would have cost hundreds and hundreds of pounds and you would naturally be nervous about staying alone with a car in the dark in the middle of nowhere. It’s different here, and that’s still the good thing about Turkey. K
Absolutely! Well said Karen. It’s why I love living in Turkey too. Nothing is ever too much trouble for these lovely people is it?
I’m reminded of one of many occasions when we have broken down and help has been at hand. This particular one was when our motorbike broke down and a guy with a pick-up truck pulled up, helped my husband load the motorbike on the back and then drove us 40km home, completely out of his way, and the trouble we had trying to make him take money for his petrol!!
Six years here and my experience of Turkey is the same as yours, people help. Phil and I drove into a ditch in the middle of nowhere in the mountains down behind Dalaman once, no way could we get the car out on our own, we’d only been waiting about five minutes when three blokes appeared out of the forest, consulted amongst themselves for a minute, then spat on their hands and heaved the car back onto the road before disappearing back into the bush.
My daughter was so worried when the car broke down, I knew someone would be along in a minute, I guess I am used to here now. K xxxx
Hi Karen,
Lived here permanently now for14 years; just started blogging and spreading the joy of this country, culture and society precisely because I found your site after our mutual friend Jane Akatay’s piece in HDN. This post is great and typical of what so many of those who choose to ghettoise themselves miss out on.
More power to your elbow and thanks for another ‘uplift’.
Warmest best wishes, Alan
Your post says it all ! Lovely people indeed, especially when you’re in need. Bless them.
It is heart warming to read these stories, people are always willing to help you in Turkey.
But when I’m moaning a little to my Turkish husband, maybe about the bureaucracy, or
the state of the roads or some other little things that annoy me. He just throws his hands up in the air and says “this is Turkey askim”! thats his explanation!
Luckily there isn’t too much to moan about.
That’s a lovely account of some very kind people, Karen, and I’m glad the inciodent didn’t spoil your daughter’s visit. I don’t know Turkey at all, but I must say that I would still feel OK about staying with my broken-down car in the dark here in rural Wales or in Northern Scotland or even in rural Normandy, which are the three areas I know best. However, I doubt I would meet quite so many helpful people as you did.
Oh that’s lovely! I wish more stories like this would spread. DH and I are thinking of renting a car this summer while we’re in Kusadasi – I’ll remember and ask for Bora at Europcar!
When I tell everyone that I love Turkey, though it is beautiful, I mean I love the Turkish people whose hearts are even more beautiful.
Yes, this is great! And one of the reasons why we are still here.