Life, Style & Reviews

Lost in translation

By A.J. Griffiths-Jones For many expats living in Turkiye, Google Translate is a godsend when you don’t speak the language, making it easier to navigate shopping and services, but for a more in-depth understanding in serious circumstances a professional translator is essential. There are several individuals and companies providing English to Turkish translation services but…

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Embracing community spirit

With recent data showing that expat resident figures in Turkiye are falling, below 10,000 across Aydin, it’s more important than ever to both support our fellow foreigners and integrate into the local Turkish community,  writes A.J. Griffiths-Jones There are many ways to do this, through sports, classes and trips, but it’s not always easy to…

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Pizza vs pide

By A.J. Griffiths-Jones Like many Europeans, I can’t resist a traditional Italian pizza with the wide variety of toppings available and we certainly have our fair share of pizza outlets here in Turkiye. However, since moving to the Aegean, I’m beginning to realise that the beautiful boat-shaped Turkish pide is a great alternative, as not…

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Beach woes

By A.J. Griffiths-Jones Kaftans, sarongs, cover-ups, call them what you will, but these items of beachwear have two common purposes, to protect from the sun’s harmful rays during high temperatures and to create a degree of modesty when circumstances warrant it. This is especially important during Turkiye’s unexpected heatwave this summer, as intense sunburn on…

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Jumping through hoops

 By A.J. Griffiths-Jones There was a flurry of panic last month when the Turkish Government changed their policy requirements for residency visas, causing many expats to decide to sell up and leave. Others took matters into their own hands and fulfilled the legal requisites by getting married. However, fast-forward to June and the guidelines have…

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To our beautiful Ruken

Hasan Bayrak, Voices Publisher My daughter Ruken has been a reporter for our newspaper for the past two years. Thanks to Ruken, Voices brought you great news. She introduced us to many places to visit in Turkey in the Explore column and introduced us to great books and movies in the Book and Film Review…

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To my dear friend Glenn…

Hasan Bayrak, Voices Publisher Glenn Maffia, one of the first editors of our newspaper, died last January 10th at the age of 66. I met Glenn in 2005, when I was a young 26-year-old journalist with plans to launch Voices, but I didn’t know how. And I met Glenn and Gill and together we published…

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Embracing community spirit

By A.J. Griffiths-Jones  With recent data showing that expat resident figures in Turkiye are falling, below 10,000 across Aydin, it’s more important than ever to both support our fellow foreigners and integrate into the local Turkish community. There are many ways to do this, through sports, classes and trips, but it’s not always easy to…

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Christmas is coming!

December is a busy time of year for many expatriates, with many returning to their birth countries to spend the festive season with family and friends, others off in search of winter sun, while lots of us remain here in Turkiye, content to create our own celebrations at home. It’s quite unusual living in a…

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Construction vs destruction

Locals are well aware that as soon as tourist season is over on the Turkish coast, construction begins and new-builds start popping up on every available vacant plot. Only a few days ago, I was looking at an image of my local area from twenty-five years ago, and what a difference! Although it was an…

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