Abstract
THE STEREOTYPE OF TURKISH DELIGHT
People usually tend to use stereotypes while talking or writing about other people, groups or sociesties that they do not know well. These stereotypes are formed based on information received from others, read in headlines and believed without questioning. Turkish delight is one of the mostly known and repeated stereotypes in the process of perception and characterization of Turkish cultural elements by foreigners specifically many Europeans and North Americans. In this sense, some elements belong to Turks and Turkey are characterized as Turkish delight. Although it has been a traditional Turkish sweet, foreign media use Turkish delight to describe various things from Turkish football teams to Turkish female models. Therefore, Turkish delight could be categorized as a stereotype about Turks. In order to investigate the use of Turkish delight by foreigners, this paper will first explain the concept of stereotype, its formation and forms of utilization. Then, it will describe the contexts in which Turkish delight is used to characterize Turks by foreign media.
Keywords
Turkish delight, stereotype, culture, Turks, foreigners
