Istanbul - Post Report Question and Answers
Are there problems with ethnic, race/racial minorities or religious prejudices? Gender equality?
Turkish men can be dismissive, inappropriate, and demeaning towards women, but not significantly enough that it impacted my quality of life as a woman. Women do work in Turkey but most higher level positions seemed to be filled by men. Arabs and women practicing certain sects of Islam would have a harder time - Turks are vocally prejudiced against them. - Aug 2021
Istanbul has very liberal and very conservative residents. You will see women wearing bikinis and burkinis at the beach, not bothering one another. In the more rural areas of Turkey, and sometimes within Istanbul, women travelling alone may face some verbal harassment from more conservative men. - Sep 2017
Anywhere you find people there are sure to be prejudices to follow. I did not have any prejudicial incidents towards me. - Oct 2010
Yes, but again, differently from in the West. It takes a newcomer quite awhile to understand the complexities. - Jan 2010
There are not many black people in Istanbul, but I have seen no racism. Turks originally came from Central Asia, so Asians appear well accepted. The glory days of the Ottoman Empire have long faded, with Jewish, Armenian & Greek Orthodox communities now much older and smaller. Churches and synagogues appear to operate more or less freely. - Dec 2009
Turkey is a moderate Muslim country. Women may run into some prejudices in their day to day life since it is a male dominated country. - Dec 2009
