The Turks are coming to India

Whomever I speak to about living in India, they scream, “Noooo!!!” 
Travelling to India is OK, but they think it might be difficult to live there. 
In fact you can live anywhere in the world; all it takes is to be positive and open-minded.
It has nothing to do with money; it is about the capability to adapt.
Mumbai happens to be the most dynamic city I have lived in until now. It is a bit wild, not exotic, but mesmerizing. 

There used to be more Turks where I lived before, but now there are only 71 Turks living here; that’s it. This is the world’s largest city. 

But as Turks, we are pretty cool here, especially because of Turkish TV series. Everybody talks to me about Turkish TV series when they find out I’m from Turkey. It seems that they love watching these series. They like Turks.

Turkey is one of the destinations they choose for their holidays, even for weddings. There is something called wedding tourism. Weddings are everything to Indians.

There are some people that save up money for their whole lives just to have a proper wedding for their daughters. The weddings are done by the parents of the bride. 

Istanbul and Antalya are the most popular wedding destinations in Turkey, where costs of weddings are $1.5 million or higher. 

We in Turkey believe the whole of India is poor. But there are some among them, whose fortune are double or triple the fortune of the richest families in Turkey.

Mumbai film festival

I believe the Indian culture is very similar to ours, as the concept of the family is very important in India, too.
In both cultures there is a wrong approach to women. Yet at the same time women are very important too. 
The women are very powerful and keep the family together. They are respected, but the hypocritical understanding of honor and morality, as well as violence against women which we have in Turkey as well is also justified here.

I really love these people. I learn something new every day. 

Another good news about India is that there is going to be a Turkish “invasion.” 

Mumbai Film Festival will take place between Oct. 20 and 27 and there is significant participation from Turkey, this is really encouraging.

Deputy Tourism and Culture Minister Hüseyin Yayman called the other day and said, “We are coming to be your guests, are you going to be there? You are our host.” This really pleased me.

I spoke to him about Mumbai’s Turkish consul-general, Sabri Ülgen, who has worked tremendously for the festival. I have never seen a consul-general as active as him; he gives a lot of importance to art and keeps organizing exhibitions between the two countries. Many Turkish painters have been visiting Mumbai. 

Prominent names like film directors Çagan Irmak and Birol Güven are coming. A lot of Turkish movie companies will also be present, and Reha Erdem will be the festival’s president. 

Journalists and film critics are also coming, which I am extremely excited about because I want them to love Mumbai. At the end of the day, this is my second home. I hope they like it.