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=== Women Turkey has been getting a bad reputation for girls hitchhiking following the murder of [[Pippa]] in April 2008 and more emerging stories reaching from minor harassment (see for example Personal Experiences section) to a near repetition of Pippas fate that [[User:Zenit|Zenit]] and the girl he was travelling with experienced in November 2011. While these things shouldn't deter anybody from travelling in Turkey, they certainly prove that there is a specific code of conduct different from any other country that needs to be respected in order to avoid unnecessary problems. Further good reading for girls and anybody travelling in Turkey ===is [http://youarealltourists.blogspot.com/2008/04/hitchhiking-guide-to-turkey-for-girls.html this blog]. Safety is always important while hitchhiking, so check the [[Hitchhiker's safety|Safety]] article before going out to wave your thumb!

A personal story:Following is a list of general guidelines for hitchhiking in Turkey. Remember, though, that you cannot fully master the different dynamics of social interaction, especially between members of opposite sexes, until you've been exposed to the inital special attention you'll receive as a foreigner and possibly made some enlightening minor learner's mistakes.:My friend and I (both female) hitched through *First of all, keep in mind that in Turkey there is widespread prejudice concerning the willingness of Western girls to engage in casual sex with random strangers. *Having said that, the biggest part of problems arise from the Greek border to Cappadocia different conceptions of flirting in the West and in Turkey. In Turkey, making eye conctact, smiling and it was quite stressfulaccepting compliments can all easily be interpreted as outright flirtateous behaviour. We never waited long Another thing to watch out for is that Turkish men will test guys travelling with girls to see how protective they are of the girls they're travelling with. This will always be in a ride somewhat playful manner, and most of the people we rode hardly ever in a threatening way. One very important thing is that a guy travelling with insisted on buying us chai (just teaa girl should never let her sit next to a man other than himself. This cannot be stressed enough, as drivers will read from this behaviour that a) the guy has no claims in the girl and mealsdon't really care what happens to her from this point and b) that the girl might be interested/easy. However*Another important point, I would say if one that with goes somewhat without saying, is about 90 percent of our rides we got our buttsclothing. Turkey is definitely not the place to hitchhike in hotpants and a tanktop, boobsthe least should be long trousers and a unrevealing t-shirt with sleeves down to your elbows. Anyone wearing less than this (apart from the Western coastal regions maybe) will usually be seen as a prostitute, or crotches grabbedand without the necessary language skills to explain women's rights over their own body you might get yourself into hassle you don't really need. If you want to be extra safe, you can also hitchhike with a headscarf and/or at least asked for sexa long ("Iranian style") gown going down to your thighs and hiding your shape. *There is different things you can say about your marital status. If travelling with a guy, the classical story of the married couple can work well enough, but won't necessarily stop a hand sign determined guy from trying his chances. Also keep in mind that many truck drivers (but generally not drivers of private cars) know that foreign hitchhikers tend to lie about their status as married couples. This might actually encourage some truck drivers to try his luck even if in Turkey the first point they never intended anything at all. If travelling alone as a girl, it seems to be safer to say that means sexyou are unmarried - meaning, for most people, which a virgin. The purity of virginity is quite different from widely respected and can provide protection. You can usefully combine both of these strategies (if travelling in a couple) by saying that we have you're cousins because a) you will be seen in America (much niceras a unmarried virgin, actuallyb) you just rub your two pointer fingers together back male relatives traditionally protect unmarried female family members and forth. It took us c) a cousin might at some point also have been picked by the family to be a while future husband to figure out what the girl.*Something that meant! We had to make our driver leave us on plays into the side dynamics of hitchhiking in Turkey as well are the road mostly Russian/Eastern European prostitutes that can be found practicing their trade all over Turkey. As a lot girl hitchhiking, be it alone or in company, you will at some point likely be confused with one of the middle working ladies. As an effect of many of nowhere so those girls being Russian, the words "rus" or "natasha" have come to mean "foreign prostitute". If your driver says any of those words, he's most likely asking if you're a prostitute. Make very very clear that was kinda dangerousyou have nothing to do with this, say ''yok'' very clearly without hesitating, smiling, laughing, or any other even remotely flirtateous reaction. And Be insulted. Likewise it took us about 10 hours 's not a very good idea to make it 25 miles say that you're Russian or even from just before Istanbul to just past the cityany Eastern European country that could be associated with Russia, especially Ukraine. People kept trying to take us into If the city or someplace we didndriver has understood that you're not a prostitute, he't want ll usually not bother you about it any more.*There is one main Turkish hand gesture that leads to goconfusion among foreigners. We were so glad when we finally made it out of Turkey at the Bulgarian borderIt is indeed extremely ambiguous, used in very different situations and complicated to understand in its context. It was an adventure though and I would recommend traveling through Turkey, just be aware that all consists of the index fingers of both hands rubbed against each other women standing on the side of the road are prostitutesback and forth. It was all just a giant misunderstanding and a lack Some important meanings of respectit include casual sex, to some extentfriendship, physical contact, geographical closeness of objects or places, on our partmoney, etc. You see that the meaning can range from explaining how to get somewhere or explaining that driver is going close to your destination to asking for the local culturecasual sex. Nothing more can be said than to use your common sense and not to be overly paranoid. *When hitching here maybe you can learn how it comes to accepting rides, listen to say "we are just traveling your intuition and we arendon't looking for sex may we worry about being picky. Remember that even if you say no to several cars you'll still have not wait very long.*To finish, a ride" before getting brief list of useful vocabulary in a vehicledifficult situations. For Check out the pronounication guide in the record[[Eastern_Europe_phrasebook#Turkish|Turkish phrasebook]].:*''çok ayıp'' - lit. "big shame", our drivers always let us out when we told them too and nothing dramatic happened beyond the daily grabbingsmost useful thing to say if somebody is harrassing you (sexual or not.):*''Allah akşina'' - lit. "for Allah's love", i.e. for God's sake:*''bakire'' - "virgin":*''kuzen'' - "cousin", ''biz kuzen'' - "we are cousins":*''evli'' - "married"

NoteAs a brief summary: During our travels in TurkeyBe aware of your body language - smiling, eye contact, being flattered by compliments are all bad ideas. As a guy hitchhiking, stand your ground, hitch-hiking or otherwiseshow presence. If the driver talks mostly to the girl, we also saw this handsign it's a bad sign. Girls should dress modestly and make sure not to be confused with Russian prostitutes (rubbing both forefingers together"rus", "natasha") many times. Although it could Be picky about your rides. Most importantly though, keep in mind that in 99% of the cases all will be misconstrued as meaning “sex” it has many different meanings such as “relationship” “friendship” “partner” etc. So fine, especially if a Turkish person makes this hand gesture don't automatically assume they are asking you for sex.pay attention to those guidelines!

Another personal story: :I have just finished my second two-week trip alone through Turkey just hitchhiking, and my experience has not been at all like the above. I was quite shocked when I read As a guy travelling with a girl it! I was traveling for long distances almost every day and I must have hitched with over fifty drivers – and only one of those drivers touched me apart from to shake my hand, and I was asked for sex twice, relatively politely, and both accepted no as an answer. I was treated with courtesy, respect, generosity, kindness, invites home to meet their families, and yes, tea and oranges. Also people kept buying me bus tickets rather than 'letting' me hitchhike on, which was horribly embarrassing! I think people who picked me up probably did consider is rare that I might you will be a prostitute, but easily accepted that I wasn't judging hit on behavior. I suspect that experiences like with the notable exception of the far Eastern part of the above depend on inappropriate behaviour or dress, or horribly bad luckcountry. I don't speak Turkish, so sometimes it was However travelling alone as a bit boring, which was probably the worst thing about hitchhiking. I would recommend not understanding the questions about whether guy you're alone or married- will/might be asked for sex depending not speaking Turkish can actually help! And also be aware that Turkish women hitchhiking sit so much on your attractiveness in the back seat of cars, same Western sense as in taxis. Another personal story::I hitch-hiked with a male friend for 3on how exotic you are (i.5 weeks in Turkeye. We started from Istanbul, to Safranbolu, Yozgat, Malatya, Nemrut Daig, Cappadocia, Kalkan being big and back to Istanbulblond will most likely increase the level of attention). I was asked Keep in mind that just even if a guy asks you to have sex with the bus conductor after one of the bus conductor invited us to take us and him it does not necessarily mean he found out that my friend and I are just friends traveling together's gay. Well, thatEspecially in Eastern Turkey it's just a minor issue. We got picked up by very common among unmarried straight men to engage in casual sex among each other as an effect of an old man when we were hitchextremely conservative society and sometimes horrible ramifications for girls having pre-hiking from Cappadocia to Nemrut Dagimaritial sex. The old man had only 2 fingers on his right hand, and he was driving at However other than the speed nuisance of 150km/h, drinking cai and talking over the phone while my friend and I were sitting at the back! He drove us to a town nearby to do some sight-seeing and invited us to stay with his daughterbeing asked for sex you's family! We ended up staying there for 3 nights. My fiend joined her husband re unlikely to work while i stayed at home with the wife doing some traditional stuff!The hardest route to get a ride was probably from Antalya to Kalkanrun into any problems. It was late and no one wanted to pick us up! In the end, two guys who worked in a restaurant picked us up and sent us to our friend's doorstep!Traveling in Turkey by hitch-hiking rocks! I never hitch-hike before but my friend has been hitch-hiking since he was 9!