Another Misconception ::: Turkey

I have been posting a lot about Turkey and my adventures here. I have grown to love it here and I have grown to aprreciate the culture here. 
With that said, I wanted to write some more about things that people don't understand or are not aware of here. 

Let's get started! 

Camels are in Turkey. 
NOT! I can assure you that this is a misconception that we Americans might have gotten from "Camel Joe". Remember him? He is a Camel from the cigarettes, "Camels". Now, what is really annoying is that they have what is called a "Turkish Blend of Tobacco and Domestic Tobacco" (from Virginia). What they did with the packaging is added a camel, added an oasis (which are not here in Turkey) and stuck a Pyramid behind a Camel. Say WHAT??? It is CLEAR that the producers ofo this cigarette had never been to Turkey and had NO CLUE that Camels are not here. But why the Pyramid and the Oasis? Because they actually used Turkish paper to roll the cigarettes and they fashioned them out of the "Egyptian Style Cigarettes" which were the fashion in Egypt at the time in stead of rolling your own cigarettes. 

Turkey- Greece... They're the Same
Turkey and Greece are neighbors, but they are not the same. They have different cultures, languages, and music, and there's differences in some of the foods, too. Some are the same, but some are different. When you go to a Greek restaurant, you are not going to a Turkish restaurant. Somethings are similar. The sea side cities in some historical places have mad eit a law to white wash all the buildings. This is also common in some Greece cities too.
There have been Greeks have occupied Turkey and you can see in many of the Historical places. Bodrum is an example. Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek City. 

Turkey doesn't have different religions
This is really truly false. There are Synagoges here. There are Churches here and there are loads of Mosques. In fact, many Jewish were invited to seek sanction here in Turkey and safely during WWII. 

The Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople and that is why it is Istanbul 
 This is another misconception of Turkey. 
Before the fall of the Great Roman (or Byzantine) Empire, Muslims and Christians and a small amount of Jews lived peacefully side by side in Constantinople (which is now Istanbul) The fall of the Byzantine Empire was slow and metitculous. People like to think that it was the Seljuck Turks, however, if you were to read about "The Fourth Crusade", you would understand better, the demise of the Roman or Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Turks came and accounts of the treatment of the people of Istanbul uppon arriving were horrid. In fact, many Soliders wrote accounts  of weeping and disbelief that the "Great Byznatine Empire" could treat it's citizens in the captial with great disregard to their lives. The city, by the time the Seljuk over threw the city, was in shambles. 
Here is a starting point of where to read about The Fourth Crusade 

I think that will do for now. If I hear of more Misconceptions of Turkey, I will be happy to post them here. 

Until next time::: I'm out!