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Old 11-01-2019, 12:15 PM
 
Location: Kocaeli, Turkey
3,171 posts, read 1,272,041 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HumbleMerchant View Post
We have a winner.



Oh please, too many snobby Europeans on City-Data projecting their enlightened self onto the whole damn continent. The big picture is, Turks and Arabs are indistinguishable from one another. Saying anything else is a delusion of self grandeur. It doesn't matter that Turks speak a different language from Arabic, no one gives a damn. Can western Europeans distinguish a Latvian from an Estonian? - No, not really, although they speak a different language unrelated to one another, both are considered Balts. Language is only a small differentiating criteria. What matters more is the cultural sphere at large. Turkey and thus Turks are a cultural continuum of the Middle-East/Arab world, they are part of it, that's a fact.



To answer the OP, yes, Turkey is seen as an arabic country in the West.

Do I look like an arab?



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Old 11-01-2019, 12:49 PM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,875 posts, read 38,010,075 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Grandeur View Post
Do I look like an arab?


An Arab could conceivably look like that. So could certain southern Italians.


But yes I am aware that Turks are not Arabs.
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Old 11-01-2019, 12:53 PM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,875 posts, read 38,010,075 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Grandeur View Post
My native language is Turkish. I dont know any arabic and I dont understand any arabic. It is a totally different language but we took a lot of words from arabic just like British people took a lot of words from french language.

However, when one speaks arabic, I dont understand anything. Nothing. We dont speak arabic, we speak turkish. We also use latin alphabet.
So I guess unlike maybe 85% of Turks you have nothing to do with the Islamic religion.


Because even if you're not a native speaker of Arabic, if you're Muslim you will by default know at least some Arabic given how central that language is to the practice of your religion.


Sort of like how before Vatican II in the 1960s many Catholics knew some Latin because so many Catholic rites took place in Latin.
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Old 11-01-2019, 01:24 PM
 
Location: Kocaeli, Turkey
3,171 posts, read 1,272,041 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
So I guess unlike maybe 85% of Turks you have nothing to do with the Islamic religion.


Because even if you're not a native speaker of Arabic, if you're Muslim you will by default know at least some Arabic given how central that language is to the practice of your religion.


Sort of like how before Vatican II in the 1960s many Catholics knew some Latin because so many Catholic rites took place in Latin.
Not all muslim turks pratice religion either.

They stop drinking in the month of ramadan and after ramadan is over, they drink alcohol.

Most go to mosque on friday, other than friday, they dont do any praying.


That 85 percent is not the conservative muslim population who practice religion. My father says he is muslim but he doesnt do anything about it. All he does is not to drink in the month of ramadan, once ramadan is over, he starts drinking. Thats what he does about religion.

And I am agnostic. So was my mother, who is dead now.
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Old 11-01-2019, 02:55 PM
 
4,394 posts, read 4,282,856 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by backpaker View Post
Turks and arabs dont even lookalike, Anyone with a brain can tell that Turkish write in Latin alphabet, the arabs have another alphabet.

Here in Oslo is common knowledge that some areas are populated by some arabs,Some populated by Turks. Knowing that a Turkish man is not an Arabic man is common knowledge here at least in Norway.

I mean you see them everyday, its not like you cant tell.

sort of how Americans know that Mexicans are not the same thing as Native Americans, You don't need to be snobbier or knowledgeable, this is just common sense you get as you live And see people.
Yeah. There was a Turkish guy at my old school. I mistook him for Italian. I'd say genetically Turkish people have more in common with Southern Europe than Arab countries.
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Old 11-01-2019, 03:08 PM
 
Location: Tricity, PL
61,662 posts, read 87,041,175 times
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This is the Muslim world:

(Source: Wikimedia)

Does everyone there look alike?

Let's look at Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is an Islamic country. But, is Bangladesh Arabic?
Bangladesh is Indo-Aryan ethnic group. They don't speak Arabic. Bengali is Aryan or Indo-Iranian, of the Indo-European family of languages. Their script isn't Arabic. Bengali is the writing system, originating in the Indian subcontinent, for the Bengali language and is the fifth most widely used writing system in the world.
They aren't Arabs.
So their only connection to Arabs is the religion - Islam.

Next: Kosovo
Kosovo is an Islamic country. But, is Kosovo Arabic?
Today, 90-92% of Kosovo's population are Muslims, most of whom are ethnic Albanians. There are also Slavic speaking Muslims, who define themselves as Bosniaks and Gorani, and Turks.
They are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula.
Most people in Kosovo speak Albanian. They don't speak Arabic. Albanian is an Indo-European language. Their script isn't Arabic. Albanian is not Arabic language. The letters are Latin, very similar to Turkish.
They aren't Arabs.
So their only connection to Arabs is the religion - Islam.

Next: Turkey
Turkey is an Islamic country. But is Turkey Arabic?
The country is located mainly on the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Major ethnic are Turks and Kurds.
The Turkish alphabet is a Latin-script alphabet used for writing the Turkish language. The Turks don't speak Arabic. They don't write Arabic.
The culture of Turkey combines a heavily diverse and heterogeneous set of elements that have been derived from the various cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean (West Asian) and Central Asian region and Eastern European, and Caucasian traditions.
A typical Turk has white skin and looks very much like a Spaniard, Italian or Greek. According to the gene studies, Armenians, Greek and Georgians are the closest to the Turkish population.
Racially, Turks in Turkey are Indo-European, whereas Arabs are Semitic.
Turks don't wear fez (since 1925) nor ride camels. In contrary to Arabs, Turks have a European lifestyle and a family structure.
Turks have no common point with Arabs from racial, linguistic, historical and sociological points of view.
Turkey is richer and more developed than most Muslim countries.
Their only connection to Arabs is religion - Islam. Although, the government's "very active and costly efforts to promote religiosity" don't appear to be having much effect. Only about 41% of the country is fasting the whole month of Ramadan, a significant amount of people will fast the first couple of days and then stop. People who pray 5 x a day or at least daily are most likely to be those who will also fast all of Ramadan.
Turkey is officially a secular state.

Turkey is a non-Arab Muslim country. And NO, generally - Turkey is NOT seen as an Arabic country in the (educated) West.


Note: the Ottoman Turkish alphabet (Ottoman Turkish: الفبا‎, elifbâ) is a version of the Perso-Arabic alphabet used to write Ottoman Turkish until 1928, when it was replaced by the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet.
The Latin alphabet for Albanian was standardized in 1909.

Last edited by elnina; 11-01-2019 at 03:21 PM..
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Old 11-01-2019, 03:17 PM
 
5,214 posts, read 4,017,586 times
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Or...arabs are fake turks since they don't have lukum 0_0.
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Old 11-01-2019, 03:46 PM
 
5,214 posts, read 4,017,586 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by elnina View Post
This is the Muslim world:

.

According to your map in Europe only France, Bulgaria, Makedonia and Bosnia can appreciate a movie like "Taxi"...
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Old 11-01-2019, 06:09 PM
 
5,428 posts, read 3,492,366 times
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Any person with an interest in geography and culture would be able to tell you that Turks and Persians are not Arabs. In fact, they generally don't even really like Arabs despite sharing a common faith.

As to your picture TC, yes you could pass for a Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian and even Israeli for that matter.
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Old 11-01-2019, 06:41 PM
 
5,214 posts, read 4,017,586 times
Reputation: 3468
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milky Way Resident View Post
Any person with an interest in geography and culture would be able to tell you that Turks and Persians are not Arabs. In fact, they generally don't even really like Arabs despite sharing a common faith.

As to your picture TC, yes you could pass for a Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian and even Israeli for that matter.

lol he looks as northern as north Italian or even German, look closely at the blue eyes. Hell he looks more white than what I see in eastern europe, if you think Egyptians look that white it may explain some sort of American politics.
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