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Otterman Ollie

Hi Filthy Mac

While I bow to your many years of experience in this hallowed industry of ours ,there may be areas where your experience is limited ,not that I'm suggesting this is a handicap,its just that our Turkish employers like to change the goal posts without any warning . I have had the experience of being taken to court by an ex boss and as he was unable to show a translated copy of my contract in a language that I could understand the boss was politely told to go away . That was about 5 years ago . I have since spoken to legal people and the law as it stands now demands two contracts for overseas workers in otherwords us in different languages this is too satisfy international law ,which for those of you who have being keeping up to date with the progress in this countries move towards E.U membership comes from the harmoization packages that have being passed, (yes I know I spelt that big word wrong bosver) so play mates that is the law, as it stands and in answer to the question who wins if you do decide to go to court well ,it won't be you thats for sure ,coz we all know the value of contracts here whatever the language .

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Yes it is definitely best not to tangle with the law - in Turkiye or anywhere else. Lawyers are the only ones who win ! there speaks the anarchist within old Scot47.

Okay whippersnapper Othman Oliver, settle this one :

how does a non-resident foreigner go about buying property inTurkey - without being cheated ?

Failure to answer will lead to me appearing at your door with a horsewhip !

Regards from Filty MacNasty, currently enslaved in another part of the former Ottoman Empire (God rest its soul.)

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Are you thinking of buying a house in Turkey?

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 9:56 am Post subject: Buying Propertry

Hi Mac

Not an easy one to answer, however, there is a thread on here somewhere about it,the first thing that springs to mind would be to get a good legal adviser on your side I understand the British Consulate in the major cities (at least the big three ) have lists of recommended lawyers who are considered to be suitable for this undertaking ,but always let the buyer beware . What do mean by cheated ,there are varying degrees of this could you clarify it ?

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Being Cheated ? I believe the younger generation use another expression - Being Ripped Off.

I mean either paying 50 percent over market value or seeing your money disappear !

I would not mind having a pied-a-terre within commuting distance of Sirkeci.

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

As I understand it, a 'decent' dersane has 2 contracts for each teacher, one in Turkish and one in English. The English contract is written to make the foreigner feel happy and secure, and while you may be a nice person and hold up your end of it, they don't have to hold up theirs, as I learned when my 'decent' dersane went out of business (all the while promising things were getting better), leaving me in the lurch for about 5 milyar. Naivete, yes, but those of us who stayed on while not really getting paid were led to believe that we would be priority for payment over the teachers who had broken contract and run away. Live and learn.

But I think there are also Turkish contracts for the legal teachers, and that's what we're held to in court. The Turkish contracts are said to list a rate of pay comparable to what Turkish teachers would receive (about 2/3 less than foreign teachers) because it lowers the amount of taxes and SSK that te school has to pay. So even if my old employer hadn't left the country after shafting us, I wouldn't have been able to recover the money I was owed by the terms of my English contract, just what was owed by the Turkish contract, making it hardly worth hiring a lawyer.

Is this just rumor and heresay?