Turkey is probably going to have a lot of the things you like about Northern Cyprus but perhaps less of the stress. Things are a little more certain here and the country is a little more mainstream established and is working hard to raise itself to European ideals.

I've lived and worked here for a couple of years of now, I have a company - which is not a walk in the park, especially if you are legal! - it gets frustrating sometimes and there are things that seem sent to try you on the beaurocratic front, but we have built up a great network of friends and support and information networks and that gets us through the tricky bits when you just need to vent!

We live in a little village outside Kusadasi and we prefer it here to being in the main resort, we live a more normal life, not surrounded by people constantly on holiday (which can be weird if you are trying to work). We have dinner parties and we socialise with friends but we rarely go to the tourist bars. We have stable electricity, high speed wifi, cheap telephone, good water supply and we just live quietly, apart from the occassional late night gin fest.

In Turkey especially you need to find a niche market if you want to succeed and you need to respect the laws of the country and the spirit of the laws that allow us to come here to work. So, if you have a company you need to employ local people, you need to train people and put something back into the community.

Right now I think there is market potential in the following niche sectors - therapeutic services (massage/beauty/new age), niche tourism (boutique hotels/art holidays/bespoke tours), high end home goods(bespoke carpentry/soft furnishings), education (private tutoring). All of these areas could provide small viable business opportunities for people looking to support a lifestyle move.

The key is to come here and spend some time exploring and talking to a wide variety of people who are actually doing it, build a relationship with them and learn about the pitfalls and the various ways to safeguard yourself.

Hope this helps a bit.

Karyn