Foreign Council ?

[Firo]

Good idea but I hope that if it happens the council will also have a translator present for the ex pat representative.

[Scunner]

It would be ideal to have a bilingual representative as I remember when we did the old Expat Q&A evenings it took a while as questions were obviously delivered in English, then I would explain to the Turkish people on the 'panel' (who spoke English!) what the question was about (often due to accents/slang), then they would tell the Turkish speakers on the panel in Turkish - and the answer would come back via a similar route. All time consuming and open to misunderstanding/change en route  

On those nights I must say that the answers given to problems raised often simply gave the asker what they wanted to hear, rather than an accurate answer. For example, if someone was worried about the number of police patrols, the panel said there would be more. There never were of course but there is, I think, a tendency to use this tactic as it is easiest.

The last one was possibly in 2007, and I am still waiting for the new state-of-the-art mechanical beach cleaning vehicle, ordered and promised for the (then) coming summer season by panel member Mr. *** *******!

[tinkerman]

Im sure the machine was used last year several times when laying the new beach.

I would like the views of more people who are actually living here alongside outsiders points of view    

[Rimms]

I think it's a very good idea Andy, Maybe Keith could organise a poll for which residents could vote on their most important issues arranged in descending order of priority, that way the representative could attempt to keep the most important issues on the agenda until improvement had been carried out.

[Scunner]

Im sure the machine was used last year several times when laying the new beach.

No no, this was a space age sort of moonraker vehicle, that would comb the beach every day!

[tinkerman]

Before we start listing concerns etc. I would like to know how much interest there is amongst the ex-pats to form such a committee  

[Scunner]

I'm not concerned   

[apollo]

Yes . It is a good idea and well worth pursueing.

I suspect that someone in the expat community will be  fluent enough, in the Turkish language ,to attend these meetings without the need of a translator.

How will resident foreigners, from all of the nationalities ,and the many expats who do not subscribe to CBF be made aware of this proposal and be able to communicate their thoughts. Or, at this stage, is this a straw poll?

[turkishrod]

As a suggestion Andy, why, rather than have a committee and a large number of members involved, don't we suggest that the elected representative holds surgeries at a central Fethiye based location.

Residents can then air their views directly and those that are relevant can be carried forward.

Land of Lights, Fethiye Times, Sun Express etc can also be used to ascertain if there is sufficient interest. 

[starman]

Good idea but I hope that if it happens the council will also have a translator present for the ex pat representative.

Why cant the person just simply learn Turkish? After all if it was the other way around in England, they would be expected to do the same.