The most important rules for behavior

Haggle

Do not hesitate to haggle. Who accepts the prices from the beginning, always buys much too expensive. Don't show the dealer that you are very interested in his goods. He should have the impression that you only buy the goods if the prices are acceptable.
You can haggle in nearly all shops, jeweller's shops and bazaars. Haggling is unusual in trademark shops and in supermarkets where the prices are fixed.
If you have the intention to make a bigger acquisition as for example leather jackets or carpets you should inform yourself about the quality differences and the usual prices to avoid to become cheated. Haggling for food on the market is also incorrect as you can only win some cents and as the prices are fixed and the farmers are already poor as a church mouse.

Behavior at the table

For Turkish people, public blowing the nose is horrently. It's comparable to the burping on the table in Germany. You have to stand up and blow your nose offside of the table or on the toilets.

Behavior of tourist women

The honor of the woman in Turkey has a different significance and other dimensions. To avoid misunderstandings: We won't give you advice on wearing long robes or on chastising behavior !!! Turkish women in the cities and the tourist centers are finally very occidentally. They wear miniskirts instead of kechiefs and they really have to laugh when they hear that Germans think Turkish women are bolted at home and have to obey humbly to their husbands. But all this is not the Central European modernity. In this way the unmindful friendliness of the German women is often misunderstood. A Turkish woman is not smiling to every unknown man and in German estimations she's even arrogant and unapproachable. "Harmless" flirts with the waiter or the sales assistant are not usual.
Of course it's on you to live your German behavior. But please don't wonder if you become turned on from a lot of men. A rejecting and incomprehensive look to the men helps you a lot.

Behavior of couples

Heavy necking of tourists in the public is accepted, as tourists bring a lot of money into the country, but it's not usual in the Turkish population. A man who is standing next to his woman while she is flirting with the sales man on the bazaar, really makes a fool of himself. Turkish men can't understand that the German man asseses the "harmless friendliness" from his wife completely different from his point of view. In the Turkish opinion this man is a wussy who is not able to defend his wife.
A flirt with a woman who is on the way with her husband means a blatant disrespect for both of them. The simple and rural population does even not at all notice the woman. You don't have to greet or to look at them. You have to negotiate with the man. The European woman feels disregarded concerning this putative unfriendly behavior. But in reality it shows the high estimation of the woman !!!!!!
Modern Turkish people are not reacting as blatant but usually you talk mostly to the men and you absolutely don't start flirting with this wife.

Observance of the contrasts in the country

If you make an all expense tour in one of the tourist centers you won't see the blatant contrasts in the country. But it's completely different if you make an individual tour and you want to discover the less settled inland. There are regions in the Central Anatolian villages and in the East where completely different laws rule. Archaic structures in the villages, firm and traditional family associations and big devoutness appear on the order of the day. Most of the time people will be very friendly and helpful to you and you will learn a big hospitality.
But it's advisable to let your miniskirt in your suitcase in such villages. Please choose long and elegant clothes. You don't have to wear sacks or to veil you. A long dress or long summer trousers can also be very chic and do not injure the policy feeling of the population in this part of the country.
It's also advisable to abstain from smoking or eating in the public during the Ramadan.

Behavior in mosques

In contrast with other arabic countries you can visit mosques in Turkey. But you should bring a cloth with you to cover your head. In bigger mosques with many tourists, as in Istanbul for example, you can find cloths at the entry of the mosque. You have to take off your shoes at the entry. Shorts and shirts with spaghetti straps are tolerated but are certainly not the proper outfit to visit a mosque.
Please do not disturb people while they are praying. A prayer becomes invalid if you run around in front of the believer. If possible, you should also pay attention not to visit the mosque during the praying day, which is friday.

Avoidance of explosive subjects

If you want to spend an harmonic evening, please avoid to discuss about explosive subjects with the Turkish population.

One of the most explosive subjects is Atatürk. Maybe the extreme adoration of this man seems strange to the tourists and Europeans. At the airport already you are received with his portrait and every big place Ort hat has its Atatürk - Place with a corresponding memorial.
But Atatürk is a Turkish personality of integration, in this regard the father of Turkish people. Without him there would be no Turkey with the actual frontiers. Large parts of the country would have been splitted between the victors of the First World War. Without him there would be no republic with a disestablishment of state and religion. In short, the whole state bases on his ideas.
You simply don't have to discuss about Atatürk . His achievements for the country are too important. And as a tourist you don't have enough knowledge to discuss about.

A second explosive subject full of misunderstandings for the Turkish and Europeans is "the situation of the Kurdic". Of course, bad things happened and there are innocent victims - but on both sides.
For Europeans, Kurdic means PKK. But this is completely wrong. Millions of Kurdic live completely normal and unmolested in Turkey. They do their jobs and they dissociate from the PKK like the Turkish people.
There are even Kurdic teachers. In Turkey teachers have another rating than here in Germany. Teachers are finally the persons who educate our children and who mediate knowledge. There is an old Turkish proverb used for the first day at school: I bring you my child, the bones are mine, the flesh is yours. It means: educate my child as you want, it's the right way.
In 1999 when the PKK propagated bomb threats for tourist centers, many Kurdic business people were also furious as their Turkish neighbors. By the way, the Kurdic language is not prohibited as you can often hear.