23 Turkish Phrases I Wish Someone Had Taught Me
There are a number of phrases that Turks use in daily life that you may not find properly explained in your Intro to Turkish...
The Journey of the Istanbul Ferry
Vendors and commuters criss-cross in front of the gates of the dock. My friend and I use the akbil dangles with the circular buttons...
Turkish Electronic Music: A New Breed of Artists
Turkey has an incredibly rich tradition in electronic music, stretching back to the late ‘50s and early ‘60s when Bülent Arel was king. Arel was a pioneer...
The Untold Story of an African in Turkey
By Bairma Kihoro
People have always been crossing borders. Not just geographical, but social, cultural and psychological ones as well. Everyone has their own dramas,...
Barış Manço: 10-Song Starter Kit
How does one explain Barış Manço? He is kind of like the Turkish John Denver, but with the notoriety of John Lennon and a...
5 Turkish Words I Can’t Live Without
Learning Turkish while living in Istanbul can be an experience both painstaking and profoundly exciting. There is an undefinable moment in this adventure -...
The Olive Tree: Turkey’s Past, Present, and Future
“Zeytinyağı gibi üste çıkma!” or “Don’t stick out like olive oil!”
This time last year, my husband and I were sipping olive oil at a...
Turkish Coffee from Beans to Telve – A Global and Local...
Like many of history’s greatest culinary discoveries, that of coffee stemmed from a noisy, restless goat and his attendant farmer’s desire for an undisturbed...
Raquy Danziger: Darbuka Drummer Extraordinaire
A darbuka drum is a Middle Eastern instrument whose structure varies depending on location. They all have a conical shape with a nearly circular...
The Creme de la Kaymak of Eccentric and Interesting Expat Istanbulites
Someone recently described Istanbul to me as a city where you can "have the best day of your life, followed by the worst day”,...
The Turkish Fez, Hats & Atatürk
I’m Australian, so coming from a country with one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, wearing a hat in summer,...
Scent of Istanbul in Poetry
Turkish poetry often tells us stories of love, anger, sorrow, longing, agony, happiness, and excitement... many with a scent of Istanbul. These poems were...
Weekend Getaway: Edirne
With the Children’s and Youth holiday coming up on 23 April and warmer weather upon us, many of you may be wondering where to...
The A-Z of Turkish Music
Let me say straight away that this is not an encyclopedic or historical article on Turkish music. Rather, these are my observations on the...
Ibrahim Tatlıses for Beginners
It started as good a time as any – on a dolmuş to Hasankeyif with a crate of live chickens on my lap. I...
Five Awesome Turkish TV Shows From the 90s
The 90s was a unique period all over the world and the same goes for Turkey. In Turkey, alongside its distinctive music genres and...
The Şakirin Mosque
There are more than 3000 active mosques in Istanbul and, in terms of architectural style, they can generally be categorized as either Byzantine (ancient...
Rakı Dos and Don’ts
On warm nights in Istanbul everyone is out. Restaurants open their doors onto the sidewalks of back streets, creating a maze of tables and...
Introducing Köşe: A New Performance Space in Kadıköy
There is a new space for performing arts in Kadıköy’s vibrant Yeldeğirmeni neighborhood: Köşe ("corner" in Turkish).
Located on the Asian side of Istanbul, Köşe...
Kurban Bayramı: A Guide to “Sacrifice Feast” in Istanbul
If you are a fellow yabangee and have been noticing pictures of cattle hanging around in the streets lately, don’t worry. You haven’t stumbled...
We Cut Yogurt With a Knife
Last week, my husband brought home a 5-liter bag of raw milk. He secretly stuck it in the refrigerator and then surprised me by...
Müslüm Gürses and The Rise of Arabesk
“Çilesiz bir günüm olmadı gitti
Bilmedim ömrümün suçu ne usta
Allah'ın gücüne gider mi bilmem
Verdiği bu candan ben bıktım usta
My carefree days never came
I don’t know,...
Book of Travels: The Evliya Çelebi TV Show
These days quasi-historical shows like Game of Thrones are the most watched (and pirated) shows on TV. Also, Muhteşem Yüzyıl, “The Magnificent Century”, a prime-time...
In Conversation with the Editors of Sofra: A Gathering of Foreign...
Having been one of the contributors to the Tales from the Expat Harem anthology over a decade ago, I was excited to see a...