Is it safe? Is it oriental or western? Can they speak English?

If you are a firstcomer I am sure that you have plenty of such questions in your mind.  And unfortunately there aren't that much of information or answers on these topics in the net.  That is luck that you reached my blog.

First of all I will answer two ancient questions.  1. Nope we have not had camels at all.  2. Sorry but the Harem is closed for a long while.  Despite the oriental history of Ottoman Empire The Turkish Republic lives a western life style.  We do not wear special uniform like clothings as you may see in the  most of the Arabic countries.  Most probably our people will look like regular citizens of your homeland.  This is causing mainly we do have a large scale of climate range.

Yes it is true that we drive a bit mediterranean style and you can hear more cars beeping on the streets.  But we do have traffic rules and polices.  On the other hand we do have lots of traffic too.

Now the major question, is it safe?  Yes maybe it is a suprise but yes it is safe.  Despite the population over 18 million Istanbul is safer then most of the world cities.  Lets have some examples from the crime statistics.  1 person out of each 66 people in Istanbul, 14 in Budhapest, 7 in Vienna, 8 in Luxemborg, 34 in Sofia and 6 in Berlin are involved in crime from small to large.  Another statistic is about the crime victims.  The percentage of crime victims to the population are as follows:  London 32%, Amsterdam 27%, Kopengahen 24%, NewYork and Stockholm 23%, Brussels 20%, Rome 19% and Istanbul 18%.  Do not forget these figures include stealing, robbery or bar fights.  Simply as a traveler if you do not involve in very interesting places for crime then it is almost impossible that you become a victim.

10% of the population can speak advanced or intermediary level English in Turkey.  Maybe this level when you compare to European countries' 40% is very low.  But the good news is 95% of this 10% lives in Istanbul.  That means you will not face that much of trouble.  The menus in the most of the restaurants are available in English too.

Consequently we can say that Istanbul is as safe as your town and close to the western way of living rather than middle east.

Enjoy your stay