Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
From: ahmet@eecg.toronto.edu (Ahmet Parlakbilek)
Subject: Frequently Asked Questions
Organization: University of Toronto
Date: 22 Jul 92 18:00:34 GMT

This is the first and (probably) last frequently asked questions article
for this newsgroup, as I will be leaving really soon. I corrected some minor 
mistakes and added minor parts; however it is still far from being complete. 
If there is anybody willing to maintain and improve this article, please let 
me know asap. 

Regards,
Parlakbilek 



VISITING TURKIYE..............................................................

1) Where can I get cheap tickets to Turkiye?

Travel Agencies, where you can find tickets to Turkiye, are:

FREEDOM ............. 1-212-307-7380
PICASSO TRAVEL....... 1-213-645-4400  (Sevin Hanim)
HUR TURK ............ 1-800-241-8875  (1-800-AIR-TURK) , 1-800-874-TURK
                      1-212-750-1170 , 1-212-586-2901
THY ................. 1-212-986-5050
CLUB AMERICA ........ 1-800-221-4969
                      1-212-972-2865
[UNKNOWN ?] ......... 1-603-862-4509
BLUE VOYAGE ......... 1-800-ANADOLU  (New York)
TURSAN .............. 1-800-451-6050
                      1-212-888-1180
ISTANBUL TRAVEL ..... 1-212-868-3394
UNITED WORLD ........ 1-201-523-5950
SUNSET .............. 1-800-243-1500
                      1-818-227-5770
CONNECTION TOURS .... 1-800-367-3931
                      1-212-486-9633
S&S TRAVEL .......... 1-516-756-0275
FAME TRAVEL ......... 1-718-263-5636
TRAVEL 24 INC ....... 1-416-222-2440 (Toronto - Osman Dino)
SULTAN TRAVEL ....... 1-416-923-7936 (Toronto)
SKYTREK ............. 1-613-829-3300 (Ottowa - Leyla Baran)
MOON TRAVEL ......... 1-212-564-5839/5840 (Kazim)
TCI TRAVEL .......... 1-800-333-7033 (Dallas - Ercument Kilic)
                      1-214-630-3344

2) Can I take one or more camera/camcorder/laptop to Turkiye?

Yes, but according to law, those should be recorded to your passport
at the time of your entrance and they should be checked upon leaving.
Usually, the customs officer do not create problems for a single
camera/camcorder etc. However, it is a good practice to register
them, especially when you have more than one. (..be advised that like
most customs officers, they do not care whether you miss your plane or not..)

3) Does my <insert any electrical device here> work in Turkiye?

220 volts, 50 Hz. is used in Turkiye instead of the 120 volts, 60 Hz.
used in North America. If your device does not mind frequency, it is
easy to make it work in Turkiye by the help of an inexpensive transformer.

In particular, you may use the small transformers sold at Radio Shack for
low-energy consumption (less than 50 watts) devices. If you would like to
take a stereo (amplifier, tape deck, tuner etc.), you should buy a powerful 
220v.-120v. transformer (preferably from Turkiye, not to carry this
heavy thing with you). The amplifier, CD player, tape deck mostly do
not create problems. Tuners, on the other hand, has the problem of
different frequency spacings of radio stations in Turkiye: AM spacing
is 10 kHz instead of 9 kHz and FM spacing is 100 kHz instead
of 200 kHz. This means you may not tune AM stations accurately in
Turkiye. Finally, some turntables, which controls the pitch with the
power supply frequency may create problems: you can adjust the speed 
manually in many of them, but if this fails, the RPM drops to 5/6 of
the origin.  

4) How can I have a long distance call from Turkiye?

There are public phones available for this purpose. You need to purchase
some tokens from PTT (Turkish Post/Telegraph/Telephone Company). One
token is on the order of $1 and you probably need a few for a single call.


>>Where-to-visit, what-to-take-with-you etc. missing.


TURKISH LANGUAGE ...........................................................

5) What is the origin of Turkish?

Turkish is an Ural-Altaic language, which is spoken in different forms from 
Balkans in the west to China and Siberia in the east. Approximately 150
million people speak Turkish in the world.

There are four main dialects of Turkish (according to Colloquial 
Turkish - Y. Mardin):
a) Oriental dialects of Altay
b) Western dialects of Kirgiz and Tatar
c) Dialects of Central Asia
d) Southern dialects: Turkmen, Azerbeycan, Anadolu, Kirim and Osmanli Turkcesi.

6) Is Turkish a hard-to-learn language?

Yusuf Mardin answers this question as follows:
"Turkish is an easy, logical language. There is no gender, no he, she or it,
but one word for all three."
"In Turkish, there are no diphtongs. When two vowels come together, each
retains its individual sound. Every letter in every word is sounded
individually and every word is pronounced as it is written."

7) Which alphabet do people use in Turkiye?

Latin alphabet with some modifications. There are 6 extra letters:
                         _    
    c   i(without dot)   g    "o    s    "u
    '                               '       
q, w, x does not exist in Turkish alphabet.

8) How can I use Turkish alphabet in Wordperfect/Mac/TeX?

Wordperfect has a Turkish keyboard file which can be used to generate 
Turkish letters by the help of Cntrl-Alt keys. For Mac, there is a 
Turkish Mac System and Turkish fonts. All of those can be found at
cs.umn.edu under the directory /pub/cosar for anonymous ftp. There is
also a Tex style file, easyturkish.sty which generates Turkish letters
for Tex document preparing system. You may contact akgul@trbilun.bitnet
for Turkish Tex and easyturkish.sty. Turkish fonts also do exist in several
sites for ftp; you may try,
host:kth.se directory:/kth/tex/stuttgart/fonts/metafont or 
host: utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp directory:/TeX/fonts for anonymous ftp. 

9) Is there any books to learn Turkish?

Yes, we even have an online tutor. The online tutor/teacher (for pc) is 
available at wuarchive.wustl.edu under the directory /mirrors/msdos/education.
We did not try it, so we do not have any idea about its completeness,
usefulness etc. The books that might be used to learn Turkish are:

- "Colloquial Turkish", Yusuf Mardin, London Routledge (several editions
exist, some includes a tape.)

- "Turkish Basic Course" (2 volumes), Lloyd B. Swift, Selman Agrali, 1966,
State Dept. Series (can be found in libraries, elemantary/intermediate level)

- "Yabancilar icin Turkce Dersleri", Kaya Can, Middle East Technical 
University, Ankara, 1981 

- "Turkish", Paul Wittek, London, 1956

The following books include Turkish stories and poems:

- "Turkish Sampler: Writings for all readers", Muge Galin, Indiana University
Turkish Studies, 1989

- "Turkish Literary Reader", Andreas Tietze, Indiana University, 1963

- "An Anthology of Turkish Short Stories", Editor: Ali Alparslan, Publications
of rge RCD Cultural Institute No:45, Istanbul, 1973

And about dictionaries:
  (by Jack Campin)
  By FAR the best portable dictionary is one you can only get in Turkiye - the
  Berlitz/ABC Kitabevi "Ingilizce-Turkce/Turkce-Ingilizce Sozluk", 1988 (ISBN
  975 09 0150 9).  It suffers from the usual problem in Berlitz materials of
  not giving you any even remotely naughty words - god help you if you have
  to explain a gynaecological problem with it - but it's wonderful on food
  terms.  About A6-sized, bright red.  If it's out of print, the Redhouse
  Elsozlugu is a reasonable substitute.[It is not out of print, I checked 
  it--ahmet]

  For a big dictionary, the Oxford two-volume one (also published cheaper
  by ABC in Turkey, in an edition that may only be sold there) is hard to
  beat, though the Redhouse Cagdas Turkce-Ingilizce Sozluk is just as good
  (one way only).  You may have problems getting that in the US.  The Oxford
  is also available in a one-volume abridgment.

10) Is there any Turkish radio programmes in North America? 

The following are the frequencies and time periods of various Turkish 
broadcasting services. 

Voice of Turkiye: (Everyday)
EUROPE   9795 kHz     21.00-22.00 GMT 31 mB. English
         9685         23.00-00.00     31     English
         9685         00.00-04.00     31     Turkish
        15267         05.01-00.00     19     Turkish
        15267         10.00-17.00     19     Turkish
         9460         17.00-23.00     31     Turkish
         9515         06.00-10.00     31     Turkish
         9515         11.00-16.00     31     Turkish

NORTH EAST
AMERICA
         9445         04.00-05.00     31      English
         9445         23.00-00.00     31      English
         9445         00.00-04.00     31      Turkish

BBC: (all according to EST. For conversion, GMT = EST + 5)

   Time         Day           Frequency
   00:15-00:30  (Mon-Sat)     6050,7325,9750
   03:00-05:00  (Sun)         1296,6015,9740,11715,15390,17695
   12:30-13:00                6085,7180,17640
   15:45-16:30  (Mon-Sat)     6125,9915,15430


ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION .....................................................

11) How can I communicate with someone in Turkiye via e-mail?

There are 29 EARN/bitnet and 4 Internet nodes in Turkiye. A recently 
updated list of nodes is as follows:

Node name      Organization                  City          Contact (user-id)  
-------------  --------------------------    ------------  -----------------
EARN/BITNET nodes:
trakden        Akdeniz University            Antalya       saka
tranavm1       Anadolu University            Eskisehir     onder
tranavm2       Anadolu University            Eskisehir     onder
trbilun        Bilkent University            Ankara        arkun
trboun         Bogazici University           Istanbul      kaylan
trcuniv        Cukurova University           Adana         ilhami
trdeu1         Dokuz Eylul University        Izmir         ayten
trdicle        Dicle University              Diyarbakir    baykal
trearn         Ege University                Izmir         aytac
trege1         Ege University                Izmir         aytac
trerun         Erciyes University            Kayseri       yapici
trfirat        Firat University              Elazig        uzun
trgantep       Gaziantep University          Gaziantep     ege
trhun          Hacettepe University          Ankara        unal
triuvm11       Istanbul University           Istanbul      erol
tritu          Istanbul Teknik University    Istanbul      harmanci
trktu          Karadeniz Teknik University   Trabzon       aras
trkosgeb       Small and Medium Industry
               Development Organization      Ankara        sogut
emunivm1       East Mediterranean University Mersin        necdet
trmarunv       Marmara University            Istanbul      iskar1
tromuni        Ondokuz Mayis University      Samsun        nazmit
trmetu         Middle East Technical Uni.    Ankara        anlagan
trmetua        Middle East Technical Uni.    Ankara        ozgit
tryildiz       Yildiz University             Istanbul      yahya
tryldz02       Yildiz University             Istanbul      yahya
tryok          Higher Education Council      Ankara        arinc
trtetm         Tubitak Info. Tech. Center    Ankara        selcuk
trgebze	       Tubitak Gebze                 Gebze         
trmbeam        Tubitak Gebze Marmara Rsrch.  Gebze        
Internet nodes: (NOT connected to international internet yet; ftp, telnet
does not work, only for e-mail purposes.) 
4381.cc.itu.edu.tr   - Istanbul Teknik Universitesi
twr.cs.cc.itu.edu.tr - ITU Control and Computer Dept.
3090.cc.metu.edu.tr  - METU
3090.ege.edu.tr      - Ege Universitesi

If you need more information, you may contact Sitki Aytac 
(bilsay@trearn.bitnet), Network Country Coordinator for Turkiye.

12) Is there any electronic mail list for discussions related to Turkish
people/culture etc.?

Yes, there are plenty. One that's very famous is TEL, Turkish Electronic
List. The language used in communication is mostly Turkish and there is
no restriction about the topics discussed. To subscribe, one should send
a mail with the body "sub tel your_name your_family_name" to 
tel@uscvm.bitnet. Other lists can be summarized (not complete) as follows:

list name   topics discussed    mail address          command for subscription
---------   -----------------   ----------------      ------------------------
tel         everything          listserv@uscvm.bitnet  sub tel name last_name
ptt-l       everything-u      listserv@liverpool.ac.uk sun ptt-l name last_name
trknws-l    news                listserv@uscvm.bitnet  sub trknws-l name l_name
yunus       turkish tex users   listserv@trmetu.bitnet sub yunus name last_name
tsaa-l      religion, everyth. listserv@purccvm.bitnet sub tsaa-l name l_name
dost        turkish scientists  listserv@trearn.bitnet sub dost name last_name
textiles    textiles, clothing  listserv@trearn.bitnet sub textiles name l_name
ieee-tr     ieee turkish chap.  listserv@tritu.bitnet  sub ieee-tr name l_name
bio-dost    biological studies  listserv@trearn.bitnet sub bio-dost name l_name
kutup-l     turkish libraries   listserv@trmetu.bitnet sub kutup-l name l_name
politika    turkish politics    listserv@tritu.bitnet  sub politika name l_name
progdil     programming lang.   listserv@trearn.bitnet sub progdil name l_name
senfoni     weekly commentory   listserv@trearn.bitnet sub senfoni name l_name
wl-tr       SWL in Turkiye      listserv@tritu.bitnet  sub wl-tr name l_name
turkce-l    turkish as a sci.   listserv@tritu.bitnet  sub turkce-l name l_name
turkmath    Turkish Math.       listserv@trmetu.bitnet sub turkmath name l_name
turksci     science policy      listserv@tritu.bitnet  sub turksci name l_name
vm-show     comics magazine     listserv@trearn.bitnet sub vm-show name l_name
fortran     fortran lang.       listserv@tritu.bitnet  sub fortran name l_name
macturk     mac users           listserv@trearn.bitnet sub macturk name l_name
amiga-tr    amiga users         listserv@trearn.bitnet sub amiga-tr name l_n
borsa-l     turkish stock-exch. listserv@trearn.bitnet sub borsa-l name l_name

All you have to do to subscribe to any of these lists is to send a mail
to the "mail address" containing the "command for subscription" as the body
of the message. "name" and "l_name" should be your first and last name.

HISTORY ......................................................................

Turkish history is a very long subject to include here. There are several
frequently asked questions on this issue. We allocated a directory 
(/pub/cosar/history) at cs.umn.edu for this purpose. There are articles 
there including recently posted Oztuna articles and excerpts from Coles. You 
may contact to cosar@cs.umn.edu, if you would like to upload any information 
on this topic.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.turkish:8145 soc.culture.greek:6918 soc.culture.europe:6705