I never thought in my life that I would live abroad,” says Anna Ethiz, who has been living in Turkey for more than 10 years. In this interview, she told us about her journey from a correspondent in Chelyabinsk to a realtor in Izmir, shared her impressions of life in different Turkish cities, and also compared the cost of living and its level before and after moving.
I never thought that I would live abroad.
About moving and career
— My name is Anna Ethiz, I am 39 years old. Now I live in Izmir and am a licensed realtor — I work directly with foreigners. I have been engaged in real estate in Izmir for about three years — before that I worked in the same field in Alanya.
According to Turkish law, it is necessary to undergo training and take a certain exam in Turkish in order to be able, for example, to open your own company to engage in real estate activities. I am cooperating with the licensed, largest company in Izmir, Coldwell Banker, which is open under an American franchise.
In addition to working as a realtor, I am a blogger. I have channels on various platforms, including Zen, YouTube, Instagram. Now I’m also starting to move into VK videos and TikTok.
— I never thought in my life that I would live abroad, although I dreamed of living by the sea. In 2007, I graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the South Ural State University in Chelyabinsk. After that, she worked on television, Internet portals, newspapers and magazines.
In 2009, I went on vacation to Marmaris, Turkey, for the first time, and I really liked the country. In 2010, I came to Kemer for a vacation, and then the idea of trying to live here settled in my head — I felt at home.
In winter, on the eve of 2011, I was interviewed by one of the travel companies for the role of a transfer guide. When I reported this at my job in Russia, everyone was shocked. Back then, Turkey was not as hyped as it is now, it was not fashionable to move here, there were many stereotypes and so on.
As a result, I worked in tourism for 4 years, during which I managed to work as a transfer guide, shop guide, hotel guide, in general, I passed all the steps of the career ladder. However, in 2014 there was a crisis and a sharp jump in the dollar against the ruble, and our company closed as a tour operator.
And then the question arose: either go to another company, or act independently. And my friend and I decided to move to Antalya and find a job. It happened in 2015. There I worked at the hotel for a short time, and then I was invited to work on the promotion of a large real estate agency in Alanya. I was engaged in filling the site, writing news and shooting videos on YouTube. That’s when my career in this field began.
About obtaining citizenship and living in Izmir
— I have been living in Izmir since 2017. My husband is from this city, so I decided to try to move in with him.
At first, it was hard for me to get used to Izmir, because it is a completely different city compared to Antalya and Alanya, where I had lived before. And if most of them spoke Russian there and Turkish was not so mandatory, then everything is completely different here – this is not a tourist city at all, despite the fact that it is located on the Aegean coast. There is a bay here, which, unfortunately, is dirty, and you can’t swim there. There are a huge number of towns scattered along the Aegean coast, which belong to the Izmir district. And this is, in fact, an incredible beauty.
Therefore, the city is visited mainly by Europeans who come on excursions to the huge number of monuments of ancient architecture that surround Izmir. The two most famous of them are Pergamon (aka Pergamon) and Ephesus. A 30-40-minute drive from the city begins the gorgeous Aegean Sea.
In general, it is a fairly European, free and non-religious city. There are a lot of people from the Balkans here, so people of Slavic appearance, for example, will not stand out much from the crowd here.
So, it was in Izmir that I learned Turkish and now I speak it fluently. I have the opportunity to watch the news, read analytical articles and the same kind of programs. I understand perfectly well what the people around me are saying.
— I got citizenship by marriage. In fact, nothing was required of me for this, except for three years of marriage with my spouse. After that, we applied for citizenship, and less than a year later I received a Turkish passport.
There are other ways to obtain citizenship. One of them is citizenship by investment. Today, you need to purchase real estate with a total amount of 400 thousand dollars of cadastral value and apply for citizenship with a lawyer. In Izmir, consideration of such an application takes about a year.
Another way is citizenship with permanent residence in Turkey for five years when buying an apartment in the amount of 200 thousand dollars. You receive a TAPU residence permit (a document confirming ownership in Turkey) and they must live here continuously for 5 years, leaving the country, in total, for no more than 180 days.
There are many more ways, but these are the most popular.
— Speaking of citizenship, it is worth saying that it is not easy for a foreigner in Turkey without it, especially when it comes to finding a job. The fact is that a foreigner cannot just go and get a job somewhere – it is necessary to apply for a work visa. But not every employer wants to do this, because, firstly, it is expensive, and secondly, they are obliged to hire five Turks per foreigner.
However, of course, if you are a great specialist, you will always find a job. In the field of tourism, on the coasts, staff with knowledge of languages is always required. In large cities such as Istanbul, Izmir, speaking languages, you can get a job, for example, in the export sector. We have a friend of a guy who has been exporting goods abroad for 5 years, and then received citizenship on a work visa.
Turkey is just an open—air museum.
About the peculiarities of life in Turkey and security
— There are many advantages of living in Turkey. First of all, as I said, I dreamed of living by the sea. Great climate, fruits, vegetables — for me it’s like air.
Plus, I’m allergic, and I just couldn’t stay in my native Chelyabinsk in the summer, practically suffocating. I think this reaction was caused by wormwood or birch. And in Turkey there is neither one nor the other. And this is probably one of the biggest advantages for me personally.
I love traveling, I really like to visit historical sites, and Turkey as a whole is just an open—air museum. Traveling the whole country from east to west, you can get acquainted with a variety of cultures — from antiquity and ancient Rome to the Middle Ages, the Ottoman Empire and European notes. These are the temples of Gebekli Tepe, which are 12 thousand years old, and KaraDeniz on the Black Sea coast, where I dream of going. In general, these are literally lands that “breathe” history.
In short,I am in love with this country and its incredible beauty. There is everything here: seas and mountains, rivers, waterfalls, caves — anything. And all this can be seen literally in an hour and a half by car.
I also really like the responsiveness of the people here: no one will pass by here, if a person feels bad, they will always help and prompt here. But on the other hand, the Turks will never miss their advantage, they can also cheat. This is especially true for tourist areas.
The real estate industry suffers from this too very much. Many Turks are trying to sell some kind of illiquid at a mega price to foreigners in order to enrich themselves and earn money. Therefore, I always advise you to contact trusted realtors.
— One of the things that remain unacceptable to me is the lack of my own personal boundaries and the non-observance of these boundaries by others. For example, when you come to an institution, you may be asked where you are from, and you may be interested in some moments from your personal life. People can visit here without an invitation — for me this is also very strange, unacceptable. I immediately voiced this to my husband, so there are never uninvited guests in our house.
Turks are very hot—tempered and temperamental people. This applies, for example, to the situation on the roads. They drive here on some intuitive level, it’s unclear how. To quarrel because someone honked at someone from behind, to start waving their fists — this is, unfortunately, a variant of the norm here.
Plus, for people who are used to clarity and punctuality, it will be unusual to deal with Turks, because they are sometimes completely optional — they may forget about agreements, not come to meetings on time, and so on. However, I would like to note that in recent years, at least in Izmir, I have already observed a shift in this trend for the better — the same realtors in 90% of cases come on time and fulfill their obligations.
As for medical care, in Turkey they are well able to operate, but they do not always treat well. Operative surgery is at a very high level, and the equipment of hospitals, even public clinics, is quite good. However, the level of medical staff in free clinics leaves much to be desired. Good doctors try to go to private clinics, but private medicine is expensive here.
As for education, I can say that there are both public and private schools here. There are private schools where education is conducted according to international systems or in foreign languages. As for higher education, you can enter a state university only thanks to your knowledge — you take exams and, if you score enough points, go to the chosen faculty. There is no bribery in the field of education.
— As for security issues, of course, there is crime here. There are no absolutely safe countries. Everything will depend on which area you will live in. If this is a good area, then you will feel comfortable walking there even at night. And there are areas where it is uncomfortable to be even in the daytime.
In Alanya, for example, it is much more comfortable in terms of security, because there are still more foreigners there. There are migrants from disadvantaged countries in Izmir, but they usually cluster in certain areas. It can be compared to Brazilian favelas even. And although they are also trying to improve these areas and make them safer, it takes time.
Therefore, yes, Izmir is a very contrasting city, and I always say, especially to those people who are going to buy real estate here, that doing it on their own without knowing the city is very rash.
If Turkey used to be a cheap country to live in, now it is not so.
About prices and living standards in Turkey
— Unfortunately, there is strong inflation in Turkey today — in general, the economic situation, as in the whole world, is not very favorable. It is better not to talk about prices at all, because they are rising every day. For example, to fill a full tank in a small car, you need about 1600 lira (~$47). Manicure by Russian–speaking masters costs about 800-900 liras (~ $23-$26). We pay about 500 liras per month (~$14.5) for the Internet at a speed of 100 megabits per second.
For someone, 30-40 thousand lira (~$880-$1170) per month is enough to live in Turkey (the average salary in the country), and for someone, 100 thousand will not be enough. We don’t have less than 100,000 lire per month (~$2,900) for two people. But we are people who like to travel, we can eat out a couple of times a week, constantly buy some things.
When I moved to Turkey, especially in 2011-2012, there was just a great economic situation here. A dollar was worth 1.2 lira, now it is about 35 lira. Back then, it was possible to live alone on a minimum wage, and to live quite decently. It is difficult to imagine now, although many, especially in small towns, really live on a minimum wage.
For example: when I worked at the hotel, I worked a little more than the minimum wage. Then it was, roughly speaking, 1,500 lire, and I received 1,600 lire.
8 years have passed, and the minimum wage now stands at 17 thousand liras (~$500). When I lived in Antalya, with this money I could rent an apartment, eat and save something. Now you can hardly rent an apartment for 17 thousand in Izmir.
All this, of course, affected the psychology of people. People are experiencing more stress and dissatisfaction with government actions, new laws and taxes.
For example, Turkey has introduced some crazy taxes in recent years. Among them is the tax on the registration of a cell phone, which has grown to 40 thousand liras (~$1,170). That is, if you buy an iPhone in Russia and bring it here, after 4 months it will be blocked until you pay this fee.
Phones, cars, all imported cosmetics brought from abroad, all this is very expensive, unfortunately. And if Turkey used to be a cheap country to live in, now it’s the opposite.
I really want to believe and hope that this period will end soon, the situation will stabilize and life will become more comfortable.
About the Turkish real estate market
— The real estate market is now, in principle, in decline throughout Turkey. If we consider Antalya and Alanya, cities that were completely built up for foreigners, then the situation there is different. When the problems with the issuance of a Turkish residence permit began, when prices went through the roof, the demand from foreigners fell, and the market simply buckled.
Izmir has never been such a city. There are 4 million local residents living here, the proportion of foreigners is very small. Therefore, yes, the real estate market is stagnant now, but this has nothing to do with foreigners — this is due to high mortgage rates for the local population.
Now prices for old housing are falling, it is becoming illiquid. The price of new housing is not falling — it is growing. Let’s say there are fewer apartments for sale than were sold a year ago, but if you buy an apartment in Izmir and then want to sell it, the Turks will buy it. I have investor clients who have several apartments, and we rent all their apartments to locals. They make a very good profit. In tourist regions like Antalya and Antalya, objects can be sold for a very long time, because there are no foreigners, and Turks do not buy.
Among the foreigners who invest in real estate in Izmir and the surrounding areas, mostly Europeans. The British are also actively buying. The Russian-speaking audience is also gradually beginning to discover this region. However, Izmir is still focused on local residents anyway, and will never depend on foreigners.
I will share with you a recent case. Our Russian−speaking clients and I signed a contract with Turks who sold their apartment for $250-$260 thousand (in order to purchase more expensive apartments in a prestigious complex). So there was a whole queue for the purchase of this apartment, and everyone was also Turkish. We were lucky that we managed to arrive first and, without thinking, said yes.
There was a similar case when we missed the apartment so much — the Turks intercepted it. So there is always a demand from the Turks. Good offers are not idle here.
As for the budget, the minimum amount for which you can buy something decent is $ 100 thousand. There is simply no cheaper, except for some very remote areas where it will not be too comfortable to live.
Move only if you really like this country.
About leisure and favorite local food
— I really like to travel. The opportunity to visit historical sites is important to me, and in Turkey it can be done almost all year round. In summer, we spend leisure time at sea — swimming, surfing. And in the cooler season we try to walk, visit historical sites, get acquainted with the local culture and architecture.
As for my favorite local food, for me it’s fresh sea fish and seafood.
I don’t really like Turkish cuisine, to be honest, but there are dishes that I like. For example, I like a soup called kelle pacha, which is a soup made from the head and legs of a cow. I also like raw bulgur cutlets called chig kefte. But the most favorite thing for me is probably fresh sea fish and seafood — when there is a choice, I will always make it in favor of a fish restaurant.
Tips for those who are planning to move
— I would advise you to get some kind of profession that allows you to work remotely. You should not hope that it will be easy to find a job here.
When I moved, and Turkey was not so popular, there was a demand for personnel. There is no such urgent need right now.
I would also advise you to learn the language, at least minimally to begin with.
And, of course, I recommend contacting trusted people. Don’t be lazy to collect information. If you decide to go to a certain city, subscribe to 5-6 different bloggers from there, observe how a person behaves, what he tells.
Be prepared for the fact that it will be difficult, because adaptation in a foreign country is always difficult. When I moved, it was not easy for me to get used to the local mentality, to the lack of personal boundaries, to the driving style. It was also not so easy to “find” my place professionally until I found my niche in the real estate industry.
And, of course, move only if you really like this country. Otherwise, you should not do this. When the mass emigration related to the events in Ukraine began, many people who had a negative attitude towards this country came here. They didn’t like everything here, but they persisted in living here. Do not do this, because because of this, local residents form a negative attitude towards foreigners. It’s better to live where you want.
Author
Yulia Yanukovych Editor-in-Chief
I am responsible for the work of the editorial office. I write expert interviews and guides.
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