The big cover up

[JohnF]

Legally, Turkey is a secular country, as enshrined in the constitution.  However, in recent years we've seen how little attention the ruling Islamic party pay to that...

JF

[Brianbern]

I am going off tangent here - last Sunday in Calis Market there were 2 UK teenage girls around 13/14 years old wearing really skimpy bikinis - they were accompanied by their mothers who were dressed in shorts & tops - the girls really were inappropriately dressed for shopping!
As a mother of 2 daughters who have holidayed here since they were babies I was shocked at their mothers not seeing the skimpy bikinis as inappropriate!
I know teenagers can be stroppy, but if they were at the beach fine, but they weren't & I'm sure some of the stall holders must have found their bikinis offensive & I'm equally sure some of the men enjoyed the eyeful they were being given!
It just amazes me that people are not sensitive to local customs & appropriate ways to behave!
I was tempted to have a quiet word with the Mums, but thought better of it as people are all too ready to give anyone who suggests such things an earful of abuse!

[pompeylee]

No doubt brianbern if you had said something you would of been called the pervert,

Our apartment is not far from calis market & the neighbouring Turkish family have put up a blind of sorts so that either ourselves are unable to see them clearly coming & going in what should be a shared path or so that they don't see us sunbathing(I'm not that bad honest),  us being the wife & myself or the inlaws if they are in calis, always say hello etc so no problem there possibly just there ways.

[Jacqui Harvey]

Yes, always amazes me that people walk around the Market in swimwear, also seen them walking around Fethiye dressed (or undressed) in the same way.
Hisaronu is the same, no beach there, but loads of men and women walking around in swimwear.
The one thing I personally hate is men sitting in restaurants in swimming trunks. Obviously, sitting back in chairs with bare flesh is not hygienic.   

[Bluwise]

So is that the same for women in halter neck dresses then?   

[KKOB]

and miniskirts or shorts ?

[Scunner]

Maybe I sometimes see things in too simplistic a way but I couldn't care less what local people wear when I go on holiday. If they are nice to my family and I that will do for me.

Half the original post waffles on about France banning burqas - what France does in regard to burqas is irrelevant to what a country with a Muslim population percentage in the high 90s might or should do.

Unless of course Stuart T thinks that when one country bans something, all countries should follow. In which case everything in the World would have been banned by now.

Sorry Stuart but it's yet another idiotic idea, but thanks for sharing.

[Stuart T]

Scunner - you simplistic?

Surely not.   

Not quite sure what my "idiotic" idea is - not even sure that had an "idea" of any sort -  it's certainly not applying a global ban on something that some other country deems illegal.

China has banned large beards.

Iran has banned pony tails on men (anyone like these things?).

North Koreans cannot wear jeans (with Jeremy Clarkson as an example, perhaps that's not a bad thing).

British Airways banned the "open" wearing of a crucifix - since rescinded, I believe (not sure).

I don't want to ban any type of clothing (although nudists in public places should be beaten with sticks)  but there is a message being passed to others by wearing certain items of clothing and certain ornaments/badges and if that becomes part of the local "uniform" I don't to be there.

If I walk into a bar full of people with skinhead haircuts and swastika tattoos (no Scunner, surprising as it may be for you, not one of my usual haunts) I am unlikely to make that my local.

They, of course, would be nice to my family and me if I shared their views.

I just want to be myself and not feel uncomfortable in my surroundings.

Neither do I wish to be intimidated into compliance with others' views in order to be accepted.

Wearing any type of uniform conveys a message.

[Scunner]

If I walk into a bar full of people with skinhead haircuts and swastika tattoos (no Scunner, surprising as it may be for you, not one of my usual haunts) I am unlikely to make that my local.

They, of course, would be nice to my family and me if I shared their views.

If I went into such a pub I would probably not get in a position where they would get to know my views, how would they get to know yours?

I wouldn't feel particularly concerned in such a place either, mainly because they wouldn't know my views or even bother trying to find out. They'd probably give an acknowledging nod at most and ignore me from then on.

You don't think people should wear burqas in their own country (if they want you to carry on visiting), or skinheads in pubs, or people in football shirts. You appear to have an acute paranoia for people that aren't...erm...you.

[Stuart T]

That's the spirit!

A bit of light - hearted banter is healthy.

A lively debate is something to be encouraged - provided it does not descend into personal insults.

Once I, or anybody else, wears a uniform to reflect their allegiance it's another matter entirely.

It smacks of segregation not integration.

Exclusion, not inclusion.

Regardless of uniform, it is a way of standing apart from others not of that group.

As for "an acknowledging nod" in such a place - good luck with that one.

As I said - I would not make that place my local.

I wouldn't want to frequent a place where the best I could hope for was to be ignored.