A moral value is a universally accepted ethical principle that governs the day to day living of life. These principles are important in maintaining unity,

A moral value is a universally accepted ethical principle that governs the day to day living of life. These principles are important in maintaining unity, harmony and honour between people.

Moral values are usually communal and shared by the public in general, thus if there is no agreement among community members no moral values will be established.

Values are the main compasses of our lives. What you wear, where you live, what you eat, what you do for a living are always affected by the values of the society that we live in. Besides, Values tell us that what we should do and what we shouldn’t.

(Robbins, 1993)

I would like to begin with a very famous saying of Mevlana (Turkish Philosopher / 1207-1273)

Seven advices of MEVLANA

In generosity and helping others, be like a river…

In compassion and grace, be like sun…

In concealing others' faults, be like night…

In anger and fury, be like dead…

In modesty and humility, be like earth…

In tolerance, be like a sea…

Either exist as you are, 

or be as you look.

A brief look at the Turkish Cultural Values and as a result of this, Turkish Moral Values.

Values can be evaluated in six groups

- Aesthetic - Scientific - Economic - Political - Social - Religious

As any other society, Turkish people have

values showing ,the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful, why to live and why to die.

We can also define Turkish values in six main objects;

- FAMILY -EDUCATIONAL - ECONOMICAL - RELIGIOUS - POLITICAL -FREE TIME VALUES

Apart from this, we can group the Turkish Values in two ways, the good ones and the bad ones

The good ones are generally; heroism, patriotism, manliness, devoutnes(religiousity), abstemiousity, hospitable, respectful, modesty

Hospitality

Respect

The bad ones are; ignorance, wangler, offensive,superstitious,fanatical,neglient, cruel, revengeful.

Supersititous

In general; We can evaluate Turkish

cultural and moral values in five matters…

1- Consciousness of History:It is a very important object in Turk,sh culture. Because it is believed to be the history is the memory of the societies. History is a kind of compass to the future and should be taught precisely to young generations.

Goethe says: One who can not face his history, lives only daily

2- Morality: It is inevitable to deny the role of morality in the lives of societies. Morality concerns with sociology, philosophy, religion and many other aspects that directs the society.

Moral values varies from culture to culture and from country to country. Some values can be seem as a positive behaviour, whereas it may seem negative in any other society.

3- Religion: Religion is one of the social institution that units the society elements like family, morality, love, education and economy. Religion has two functions in society. One is to provide the unity and cooperation in society and the other one is to take place as a social controller.

Muslims, Christians, Jews live in Turkey peacefully

4- Language: Language is at the top of the abstract cultural facts and contains the other traditional elements. Because all values are expressed by using language and they are transferred to the next generations and thus to the humanity with education.

5- Patriotism : It means loving nation and land and protecting them. Patriotism has a special meaning for the Turks, because thousands of soldiers martyrized during the Independence War for the sake of saving the land. The land is holy for Turkish people because martyrdom is to die for the homeland. The martyrdom is the highest place after prophecy according to Islam.

Some cultural traditions of

Turkey

Hand- kissing: This is a very old tradition of Turkey. The younger kisses the hand of the older, especially in the religious festivals, such as Sacrifice Bayram and Ramadan Bayram.

When we send off a family member or a friend to do his military service in Turkey, this farewell turns into a display to encourage the soldier nominee.

The night before the wedding day, the women among the family and the friends of the bride meet with wearing traditional clothes and turn around the bride singing and dancing with henna in their hands. They sing sadly and wait the bride to cry as she is leaving her house and family. Some piece of henna is also put into each of the women’s palms in the meeting. It is called ‘Henna Night’ in our country.

Vicinity is very important in Turkish culture. Especially in villages neighbours share anything. This can be a photo of it.

Nasreddin Hodja

Perhaps the most popular figure in the tradition is Nasreddin who is the central character of thousands of

jokes. He generally appears as a person who, though seeming somewhat stupid to those who must deal with

him, actually proves to have a special wisdom all his own:

One day, Nasreddin's neighbor asked him, “Hodja, do you have any forty-year-old vinegar?"—"Yes, I do," answered

Nasreddin.—"Can I have some?" asked the neighbor. "I need some to make an ointment with."—"No, you can't

have any," answered Nasreddin. "If I gave my forty-year-old vinegar to whoever wanted some, I wouldn't have had it for

forty years, would I?"

Karagöz&Hacivat

Another popular element of Turkish folklore is the shadow theater centered around the two characters of Karagöz and Hacivat, who both represent stock characters: Karagöz—who hails from a small

village—is something of a country bumpkin, while Hacivat is a more sophisticated city-dweller. Popular legend has it that the

two characters are actually based on two real persons who worked for Osman I,the founder of Ottoman Empire.

Folk-dance

Folk dance is our traditional dance and it

can differ from region to region,and also the

clothes are different in every region.

Hamam is a very important object in the Turkish culture

Turkish coffe is another important element in Turkish culture.

But, ofcourse our national drink is ‘’tea’’, that is agricultured in Blacksea Region

Turkish ‘’Bağlama’’ and ‘’Saz’’ are the main musical instruments

Also we have ‘’Tulum’’ and Kemençe in Blacksea region as instruments

Kemençe

Tulum has similarities with Scotish Gaida

Oil wrestling and Cirit are the main national sports

Oil wrestlers

Cirit has a 2000 years of history.

Actually, there are millions of different cultural and traditional aspects but the best way to learn about these, is to live them. So I don’t want to take your time anymore. Enjoy your trip in Turkey

Thank you for attendance

Prepared and presented by Volkan AKBIYIK