Many people have already surrendered and gone Alan, with lots more either planning it, or will find it necessary in the near future. In a conversation I had with Inspector himself, he made the point that the Government over there seem to be doing all they can to make it easier for citizens of some nations (Arabic mainly) to live in Turkey, while making things harder and harder for Europeans.
So true. I said this years ago (but not sure anyone really listened) and is just one of the (many) reasons we sold up in Istanbul and Fethiye.
When the government abolished the condition of reciprocity for purchase of land and property in 2012 it opened the flood gates to buyers from the Arab states and beyond. It's probably not that noticeable in the Fethiye area, but massive investment in property has taken place in Istanbul from these countries. Heading west on the E5 towards (and past) the airport you can see the new residential buildings springing up on a massive scale. You look at the "centre" of Istanbul on the European side and it's skyscraper after skyscraper rising up.
You have to ask, given the shaky state of the Turkish economy, where is the money coming for all of this development? Well,
some of it is domestic investment - however a good proportion is coming from countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
In my opinion, Turkey has been looking east for several years now and all this bollox we've had recently about accession chapters to the EU being "rushed" through is a complete smokescreen. Yes Missus Merkel, we'll take the money and kiss the rich, fat hairy arse of the EU - but don't expect us to change our views and policies on human rights, freedom of the press, political & commercial corruption etc.
JF