Vergi Dairesi – the Turkish tax office. Just hearing the words can be enough to make many foreign residents reach for their paperwork and start worrying. But if you own a holiday home in Türkiye, understanding the basics of the Turkish tax system can save you a lot of confusion – and potentially some expensive…
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Didim’s streets are lined with cafés and restaurants serving everything from pide, kebabs and pizza to burgers, steaks and chicken dishes aimed more specifically at foreign tourists, writes Laura Bower. But some of the area’s richest culinary offerings are found a little further off the beaten track, in the countryside cafés and restaurants serving köy…
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If you’ve lived in Türkiye for any length of time, you’ve probably heard someone say, “You’ll need to go to the noter.” For many foreigners, the Turkish notary system can seem confusing. In the UK, notaries are used relatively rarely, but in Türkiye they play an important role in everyday life. From buying a car…
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By A.J. Griffiths-Jones Last year Turkiye suffered 3,224 forest fires in total, with human negligence and accidents cited as the leading cause. So why are we seeing a rising number again this summer? Wildfire season is generally between June and October with heatwaves, dry winds and drought causing spikes in risk, the arid Mediterranean and…
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One of the joys of owning a home in Türkiye is spending warm evenings on the balcony and enjoying life outdoors. Unfortunately, nature occasionally decides it would quite like to move in too! From mosquitoes and ants to the occasional scorpion or even burglar, unwanted visitors can spoil your stay. Fortunately, most problems can be…
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Who isn’t familiar with that post-pub street food stalwart, the döner kebab? Also known as the “elephant leg”, the döner gets its name from its cooking method, turning continuously on a vertical spit. Döner kebabs originated in the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century, when cooks in Bursa began roasting seasoned meat on a vertical…
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Not that long ago, Türkiye had a bureaucracy paralysed by paperwork. If you had gone to school in Kars but now lived in Didim and wanted to take your driving test, you could face a two-day bus journey to collect your school report and another two-day trip back to hand it in. CofE school veterans…
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Grouting. It might not be something you give a lot of thought to. It’s the hard sealant that goes in the gaps between tiles and creates a smooth surface. Most people have it in their bathrooms. Many here in Didim also have tiled floors throughout the house and tiled balconies and roof terraces, tiled roofs,…
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By Laura Bower – Whether you’re a visitor to Türkiye or you live here full time, the question of how to pay for healthcare is important. In our last article we covered what happens if you are admitted to hospital in Türkiye. Today, we look at the different options for paying for healthcare: private health insurance,…
Read More By A.J. Griffiths-Jones Us Brits are renowned for being obsessed with the weather and for centuries we have used it as a topic of conversation to make small talk, fill silences or to break the ice when meeting someone new. We do this out of habit mainly because of the UK’s famously unpredictable climate, which…
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