Las Terranas - Turkish

jtom343

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Nov 8, 2017
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I live in La Romana and it’s big news here that the Turkish from Las Terranas are moving here in hordes. Apparently after one of them was killed last year, the company that employs most of them decided to pick up and move. It’s exciting to see so much action going on but the feelings about them seem to be mixed by a lot of people in the community. I was genuinely excited to see new neighbors but I’ve also seen another side of them which many neighbors complain about. It’s true that their company will be bringing plenty of jobs to the area but there also seems to be a bit of a culture clash. I’m wondering from those whom were their former neighbors, what were the sentiments about them while they lived amongst you in LT?

Just from my short period of observance, some of them will try to be friendly but many of them stay to themselves and ignore any hellos, holas or selam(hello in their language) and continue to walk as if you hadn’t just looked them straight in the eye and greeted them. Many also walk around with an arrogance and utter disregard of their surroundings by smoking and throwing cigarettes EVERYWHERE regardless of a cigarette disposal 1 ft away, walking in the middle of the road and ignoring the cars trying to pass or park where they are standing regardless of anyone honking. It’s as if many of them believe they are doing you a favor by their mere existence and they are gracing you with their presence. I know a lot of the neighbors here are very wealthy and for lack of a better word, don’t put up with their ****. Sooo LT residents, care to chime in?
 
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Squat

Tropical geek in Las Terrenas
Jan 1, 2002
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So glad we got rid of them in LT! They were damaging the environment with their reality show.
 

LTSteve

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Jul 9, 2010
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I live in La Romana and it’s big news here that the Turkish from Las Terranas are moving here in hordes. Apparently after one of them was killed last year, the company that employs most of them decided to pick up and move. It’s exciting to see so much action going on but the feelings about them seem to be mixed by a lot of people in the community. I was genuinely excited to see new neighbors but I’ve also seen another side of them which many neighbors complain about. It’s true that their company will be bringing plenty of jobs to the area but there also seems to be a bit of a culture clash. I’m wondering from those whom were their former neighbors, what were the sentiments about them while they lived amongst you in LT?

Just from my short period of observance, some of them will try to be friendly but many of them stay to themselves and ignore any hellos, holas or selam(hello in their language) and continue to walk as if you hadn’t just looked them straight in the eye and greeted them. Many also walk around with an arrogance and utter disregard of their surroundings by smoking and throwing cigarettes EVERYWHERE regardless of a cigarette disposal 1 ft away, walking in the middle of the road and ignoring the cars trying to pass or park where they are standing regardless of anyone honking. It’s as if many of them believe they are doing you a favor by their mere existence and they are gracing you with their presence. I know a lot of the neighbors here are very wealthy and for lack of a better word, don’t put up with their ****. Sooo LT residents, care to chime in?

The "Turkish", as you refer to them, from LT are actually a production company that shoots "Survivor" Turkey in the DR. I owned an apartment at Don Ceasar in LT the first few years that this group rented apartments and worked out of this location. The Don Ceasar management wanted to rent to them to augment the income for this gated community. This decision was driven by the fact that Don Ceasar had half of the apartment buildings empty due to a law suit with the construction company from LT. Renting to this company brought in a lot of income for the Don Ceasar gated community. This production company from Turkey rented apartments and worked out of Don Ceasar, including storing many of their props on the premises. Although there were some loud parties I never found this group to be a problem and most were friendly. Your perception of them being unfriendly may be due to the fact that most don't speak Spanish and many don't speak English and I got the impression from some of them were trying to adjust to the DR and going through culture shock and a steep learning curve. Yes, they are from a different culture with a different perspective. How about keeping an open mind and not judge the whole group by the dumb actions of a few. There will always be those who think because they are in a foreign country they can act differently than they normally would or maybe these few are just assholes. If we passed judgement in the DR on everyone we met who acted strangely then half of the residents would be guilty. Open your minds and realize there are all kinds of people in your little world.
 

Africaida

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Jun 19, 2009
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And spitting on the street whole day long? Get used to it, looks like parts of northern Europe.


Certainly not the type who migrates to Europe, there are professionals working on a TV production.

Ran into them many times in LT, they keep to themselves. I fail to see what they brought economically to the area except for a few lucky ones, but I could be wrong.

I hate the MONSTROSITY they built on Coson beach for their show , it breaks my heart. I am now against all these type of shows, they **** up the environment and take over small town for fake entertainment.
 

Africaida

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Jun 19, 2009
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So glad we got rid of them in LT! They were damaging the environment with their reality show.

Are they completely gone ?

Saw them last month. The word was that a mexican tv show was going to take over ? Any truth to that ?
 

jd426

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Dec 12, 2009
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Every time I hear Turkish, and Entertainment in the same Sentence I immediately think of Horatio Sanz when he did the TURKISH NIGHTCLUB Owner , on SNL... one of the Funniest Skits of all time .
Cant find it anywhere though. I think the Turks got really offended by it perhaps ...
But yes , they love their Fake Shows ,and over the top entertainment and make believe.

Years back I knew a Turkish Elvis Impersonator , he was quite a character .. .Passed away from over indulging in every aspect of his life .. in his mind he really thought he was like Elvis ... One heck of a Guitar Player though and super Nice guy.
From My Experience Turks keep to themselves, and can be quirky , but if they befriend you, you are a Friend for LIFE.

sorry for going a Little off tangent there
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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Every time I hear Turkish, and Entertainment in the same Sentence I immediately think of Horatio Sanz when he did the TURKISH NIGHTCLUB Owner , on SNL... one of the Funniest Skits of all time .
Cant find it anywhere though. I think the Turks got really offended by it perhaps ...
But yes , they love their Fake Shows ,and over the top entertainment and make believe.

Years back I knew a Turkish Elvis Impersonator , he was quite a character .. .Passed away from over indulging in every aspect of his life .. in his mind he really thought he was like Elvis ... One heck of a Guitar Player though and super Nice guy.
From My Experience Turks keep to themselves, and can be quirky , but if they befriend you, you are a Friend for LIFE.

sorry for going a Little off tangent there

the Turks love fake shows, over the top entertainment, and make believe?

you mean like wrestlemania fans?
 

jd426

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Dec 12, 2009
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the Turks love fake shows, over the top entertainment, and make believe?

you mean like wrestlemania fans?

And Gambling, or " Spiel salons" as they call them In Germany. Little tiny gambling operations ...or SLOTS . ...

How many Turks have you known G ?
In Germany I had the opportunity to meet and get to know quite a few of them .. every one was a business owner , and hard worker ..
 

jtom343

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Nov 8, 2017
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The "Turkish", as you refer to them, from LT are actually a production company that shoots "Survivor" Turkey in the DR. I owned an apartment at Don Ceasar in LT the first few years that this group rented apartments and worked out of this location. The Don Ceasar management wanted to rent to them to augment the income for this gated community. This decision was driven by the fact that Don Ceasar had half of the apartment buildings empty due to a law suit with the construction company from LT. Renting to this company brought in a lot of income for the Don Ceasar gated community. This production company from Turkey rented apartments and worked out of Don Ceasar, including storing many of their props on the premises. Although there were some loud parties I never found this group to be a problem and most were friendly. Your perception of them being unfriendly may be due to the fact that most don't speak Spanish and many don't speak English and I got the impression from some of them were trying to adjust to the DR and going through culture shock and a steep learning curve. Yes, they are from a different culture with a different perspective. How about keeping an open mind and not judge the whole group by the dumb actions of a few. There will always be those who think because they are in a foreign country they can act differently than they normally would or maybe these few are just assholes. If we passed judgement in the DR on everyone we met who acted strangely then half of the residents would be guilty. Open your minds and realize there are all kinds of people in your little world.


For someone with such an open mind, you sure do have a condescending tone to your reply. I’m glad that you find behaviors such as ignoring cars trying to pass or park acceptable in that little world of yours. I guess a whole bunch of people in La Romana, not just me, must be crazy and closed minded when you find it a little rude that waving, smiling and greeting someone without any response when clearly you know that they speak English cause you heard it from their mouth. But maybe I’m the one passing judgement over the internet. Glad you have have such an open mind to be able to tolerate those things. Really happy for you.
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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LTSteve is long gone....
He's good at the history but he left quite a while ago

Not saying he's full of anything... just not too current would be a fair comment
 

jtom343

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From My Experience Turks keep to themselves, and can be quirky , but if they befriend you, you are a Friend for LIFE.

sorry for going a Little off tangent there

Yea, thanks for the response. That seems to be the case here also. Even when you say hi directly to them, many of them keep to themselves, even the ones who speak English.
 

jtom343

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Are they completely gone ?

Saw them last month. The word was that a mexican tv show was going to take over ? Any truth to that ?

They moved within these last 2 months in phases. Seems like the first 150 came one month, then the next 150 the beginning of Feb. I heard up to 1,000 people. Was the community in LT that big?
 

Africaida

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Jun 19, 2009
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Yea, thanks for the response. That seems to be the case here also. Even when you say hi directly to them, many of them keep to themselves, even the ones who speak English.

Well, one got murdered in LT over a cell phone (allegedly), so they might just be overly cautious because of that.

I have close friends-even my own brother-ho works in that type of environment (TV shows/theater production). When they go on location or are on the road, their days are long; money is good but it is a tiring job. Many have been away from home for a while, so after work my guess it that they are not really in the mood to socialize. Just my 2 cents.
 

LTSteve

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Jul 9, 2010
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For someone with such an open mind, you sure do have a condescending tone to your reply. I’m glad that you find behaviors such as ignoring cars trying to pass or park acceptable in that little world of yours. I guess a whole bunch of people in La Romana, not just me, must be crazy and closed minded when you find it a little rude that waving, smiling and greeting someone without any response when clearly you know that they speak English cause you heard it from their mouth. But maybe I’m the one passing judgement over the internet. Glad you have have such an open mind to be able to tolerate those things. Really happy for you.

That's life in your fast lane. There are many people and many are just not friendly or don't care to acknowledge your presence. Yes, its rude I see it everyday hear in the USA so why should it surprise me or you when it happens in the DR from a Turkish citizen who in his perception is in a strange world. Does this have any real impact on your daily life or do you just like to be able to complain about someone who doesn't share your moral outrage???? Like I said previously when I lived in LT and had some interaction with these people I didn't find that they were much different only from a different part of our planet.
 

LTSteve

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LTSteve is long gone....
He's good at the history but he left quite a while ago

Not saying he's full of anything... just not too current would be a fair comment

The gentleman that made the original post asked for comments. I gave my first hand perspective from someone you was there when this production company came to the DR. Why do you seem to feel you can discount my comments and infer that what I stated was BS? I used to observe the same behavior, of not being friendly or littering or showing no courtesy from a wide range of Europeans, Dominicans and North Americans everyday in LT. That's life.
 

jtom343

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The gentleman that made the original post asked for comments. I gave my first hand perspective from someone you was there when this production company came to the DR. Why do you seem to feel you can discount my comments and infer that what I stated was BS? I used to observe the same behavior, of not being friendly or littering or showing no courtesy from a wide range of Europeans, Dominicans and North Americans everyday in LT. That's life.

I'm an adult and can take someone not saying hi to me. I was simply asking what the experiences were of their previous neighbors so I can better understand and not make a pre-judgement (as was implied) on anyone. What I and probably WW weren't expecting was a condescending and self-righteous reply from your original response but I guess most people don't understand something like that until they got a taste of their own medicine. I appreciate the replies from everyone as I was and still am hopeful of being friends' with the new neighbors and hopefully some on the DR1 boards.
 

william webster

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I'm an adult and can take someone not saying hi to me. I was simply asking what the experiences were of their previous neighbors so I can better understand and not make a pre-judgement (as was implied) on anyone. What I and probably WW weren't expecting was a condescending and self-righteous reply from your original response but I guess most people don't understand something like that until they got a taste of their own medicine. I appreciate the replies from everyone as I was and still am hopeful of being friends' with the new neighbors and hopefully some on the DR1 boards.
Absolutely correct JTom....
Thank you for the understanding

The gentleman that made the original post asked for comments. I gave my first hand perspective from someone you was there when this production company came to the DR. Why do you seem to feel you can discount my comments and infer that what I stated was BS? I used to observe the same behavior, of not being friendly or littering or showing no courtesy from a wide range of Europeans, Dominicans and North Americans everyday in LT. That's life.

LT... I was careful to include the disclaimer in my post....
that you weren't full of anything - in an attempt to avoid exactly what happened

I still maintain that current affairs aren't your specialty since you have left.

Read again- historical knowledge is still on your side...

I tried to be deferential..... and objective
 

Rumble2005

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Mar 18, 2006
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I will not pretend to be a wealth of knowledge on this subject as I am just a tourist here 3 weeks per year for the past 8 years.
What I can say is that if I had not read this thread about the Survivor leaving LT I would not have seen the difference this year from previous years.
We stay just down the road and I walk past the area where they build the props daily. There is still the usual activity in my opinion, I still see the Turks on the streets. The Survivor boat is still zooming around and moored just off shore. The only difference I have seen is that the restaurant they formerly occupied in the fishermans village is now vacant and it appears they have moved to a restaurant just on the opposite side of the dirty little garbage filled stream that drains into the ocean.
I am here now and see the Turks every day. I will ask some questions to some ex-pats I know.
 

jtom343

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Nov 8, 2017
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I will not pretend to be a wealth of knowledge on this subject as I am just a tourist here 3 weeks per year for the past 8 years.
What I can say is that if I had not read this thread about the Survivor leaving LT I would not have seen the difference this year from previous years.
We stay just down the road and I walk past the area where they build the props daily. There is still the usual activity in my opinion, I still see the Turks on the streets. The Survivor boat is still zooming around and moored just off shore. The only difference I have seen is that the restaurant they formerly occupied in the fishermans village is now vacant and it appears they have moved to a restaurant just on the opposite side of the dirty little garbage filled stream that drains into the ocean.
I am here now and see the Turks every day. I will ask some questions to some ex-pats I know.

They are still in LT from what I hear too as they've only moved half of their crew. Another 500 are going to leave LT by March is the word.