Author: tur

In Turkey the size of families has become smaller and because urbanization problems have arisen, people have started to live in apartment blocks in the urban areas and in smaller houses in the rural areas. Generally apartments have 3 bedrooms with an average surface area of 100 m² / 120 yd². In larger cities apartments are more expensive to own. The prices start from 10.000 USD and goes up to 100.000 USD. The average citizen cannot easily afford such a price even with the help of a mortgage.

Periodically the government or the municipality build apartment complexes and arranges some mortgages to be paid in 20 to 30 years period. Nearly half of the people living in big cities rent their flats rather than own them. The average rent is around $200 a month. In smaller cities, flats are less expensive and more people own their houses or apartments. The proportion of people who rent their houses nationwide is 35%. People who work for the state, live in apartments which belong to the state and they pay a very small amount of rent.

Traditional streets are narrow and filled with stones on the surface. Generally there is a sloping downward from both sides to meet in the middle, to keep the rain water away from the walls of the houses. The large eaves of the roofs serve the same purpose. In the traditional streets residents could fill their pitchers or passers by could drink from the street fountains built into one of the walls and sometimes located in a cul-de-sac (blind alley). The old miniatures and pictures show that the houses were painted white, indigo, pale pink, light yellow and green.

Towns range from simple settlements around marketplaces to large population centers offering a variety of goods, services and facilities as well as serving the basic economic and political functions. In general, the towns where the primary function is economic tend to be small, conservative and rural in character. In small towns, where occupational groups are few and weak, relations among residents tend to be more personal, non-institutionalized and informal.

The small-town merchant, trader or artisan identifies himself with the community. Whereas when the political function has joined or overridden the economic function, towns tend to be larger, progressive and urban. However rural a town may appear to the outsider, there is a distinct difference between a town and the surrounding villages.

Settlements are classified according to the number of inhabitants: Less than 2,000 inhabitants is a village (koy), between 2,000 and 20,000 is a town (kasaba) and a population of more than 20,000 is a city (sehir).

Cities – Towns – Villages – The Old Anatolian House – The Street

The coffin is carried to the cemetery by a hearse followed by a long convoy. Graves are rectangular in shape and designed to accommodate only one person. The deceased is buried in only the shroud not the coffin. The body is laid on its right shoulder facing the direction of Mecca. The tombstone is on the head’s side. The Imam’s prayers signify the end of the burial. The deceased is commemorated on the seventh and fifty second days of his death with Islamic readings; mevlit. Sometimes big funerary meals or halvah are offered to the poor and surrounding people.