Jeevay Jeevay Pak-Turkey by the Bosphorus

Went to Turkey quite few times and the amount of love & respect you get as soon as you say that you’re from Pakistan is ineffable really, first thought that it was some romanticized myth propagated by our pan-Islamic scholars enamoured of the Ummah paradigm but, well, no.

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Definitely a genius behind the lens ;-)

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I’ve been to Istanbul few times and all I can say is that its like 2nd home. I really love the place and love the people. Although there is language issue however there are so many Urdu words in Turkish language that you’ll be amazed. The food is amazing and while i type this sentence, my mouth is watering as I am thinking of Kebabs… YuM.. I have seen almost all the places shown in pictures above and it gives me a good feeling that yes… I have been there… I will suggest people who only know Dubai or Malaysia as tourist destination… visit Turkey and trust me you will be amazed to see that you could relate so much with that country.
Some times I dream that Pakistanis will travel all Asia as Europeans can travel freely with out visa requirement in whole white world :)

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My 2nd favourite city: Istanbul. Beautiful place. Beautiful people. I visit the city at least twice a year and still can’t get enough of the place. Well, I guess that is also ‘coz my gf lives there:).

However, not too sure about how highly Turks feel for Pakistan. While they are never threatened by a Pakistani’s presence, the most frequent comment I get when I tell I am a Pakistani, is “Osama dead!”. Like I am from a war-torn country and Osama’s death is all there is to it.

Kind of reminds me of the time a Lebanese man was in front of me in the immigration line at the Karachi Airport, and the only question three separate officers asked him was “How’s the country recovering from the war?”

Hope some Turkish paper/periodical can show our other side to their people too

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Why are people so delusional? Read the comments. Just because it is a Muslim-majority country, doesn’t mean they ‘dearly love Pakistan’.
We think China is our ‘all-weather friend’ because our leaders pass this statement and our news repeatedly highlights it. On the same days when our news has stories after stories about Sino Pak ever lasting friendship, check the Chinese news websites. Not a single story in their news covering the same.
Arabs make one statement in our defence and that is the talk of the town. How many people remember the Bahrain incidents or the fact that Qatar stopped giving visas to Pakistanis last year or how an American gets a visa on arrival at the Istanbul Airport and Dubai Airport, while a Pakistani has to apply for one in advance and present supporting documents like he’s fighting to defend himself in court.
Regular Turkish people on the street are probably as ignorant about Pakistan as a regular American. In fact if you travel around, you will see that an average American would probably care more about the problems in Pakistan, than an average Turk, Chinese or Arab,

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@Joke, i have met not all but but a little few chinese and not in pakistan not in china, to my amazement when i said pak china friends, they said no pak china brothers. this is my own experience.

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I have many Turkish friends, have travelled there a lot and here is what I can tell you. The affection between the people of Turkey and Pakistan has nothing to do with Islam. It is there because the elder generation in Turkey has kept the memory alive of the help they received from the people of Pakistan during their war of liberation (even though that was much before we got our independence), secondly we are two large countries with deep cultural connection and thirdly Turkish “Islamists” including the ruling party are a lot like Pakistani Liberals. Their faith is Islam and they keep it to themselves and are forward looking people.Recommend

Been to Turkey a lot of times. The amount of respect i have for their founder and for Turks is unmatched

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@Alami Musafir: Visit. I have been living in Istanbul since 2008. I am not saying that Turkish people dislike Pakistanis. All I am saying is that the regular people here are as unaware about the ‘liberal’ side of Pakistanis as an ignorant American.
Since they are generally hospitable people, they are nice to the Pakistanis or anyone else who visits or lives there. However, that does not really mean that they ‘dearly love Pakistan’ or care about the problems we have in our country. They find it surprising that I, a Pakistani, am not ‘involved in the war’ that they think is going on constantly on the streets of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad or that I am educated enough to be heading the Corporate division of a leading bank there.

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The photo of bus art really cracked me up. Not as good as we have here, but still impressive. We are exporting our culture. Thats something to be proud off. Pakistan Paindabad.

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Last pic is of Istanbul tram, not of Istanbul Metro.

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