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| I would
strongly recommend Tutku Tours to professors,
like myself, who plan and lead Student Study
Tours. I found the staff and guides extremely
knowledgeable, experienced and eager to craft
the tour to the class objectives. I plan on
using Tutku Tours again for my next study trip
to Turkey. |
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C. PATRICK HOTLE
THE JOHN A. SPERRY ENDOWED
CHAIR OF HUMANITIES ASSOCIATE
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
DIRECTOR OF STUDY ABROAD OFFICE
CULVER-STOCKTON COLLEGE
2009 |
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| Tutku Tours is
a world leader in Biblical and Classical Tours.
Its excellent service combined with affordable
prices make it the agency of choice for
colleges, universities, and seminaries. Its
owner Levent Oral uses personable guides who are
experts in the field. I would highly recommend
Tutku Tours for your next tour to Turkey or to
the eastern Mediterranean. |
|
DR. MARK WILSON
DIRECTOR, ASIA MINOR RESEARCH CENTER
VISITING PROFESSOR OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY
REGENT UNIVERSITY
2009 |
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| I have led a
plethora of tours over the last twenty five
years, and I can honestly say that when it comes
to leading a tour to any one of the Lands of the
Bible there is no one I would rather work with
than Tutku Tours and its many wonderful guides. |
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DR. BEN
WITHERINGTON, III
AMOS PROFESSOR OF NT FOR DOCTORAL STUDIES
ASBURY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, WILMORE, KY
DOCTORAL FACULTY ST. MARY’S COLLEGE
ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY, SCOTLAND
2009 |
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| After four
month-long trips with students through Turkey
arranged by Tutku Tours, I am completely sold on
Tutku’s services and recommend them to anyone
planning tours in its region. Tutku’s expert
staff impresses me every year with their
friendliness, professionalism, efficiency, and
especially with their ability to combine the
royal treatment with such an affordable price.
The Ephesus Meeting in particular, with its
opportunities for worship and learning, has been
a highlight along our travels in May. Tutku’s
experience and attentiveness to each trip’s
success has permitted me as a trip leader to
travel with utter ease and confidence. |
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DON WESTBLADE
HILLSDALE COLLEGE, DEPT. OF RELIGION
2009 |
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| Tutku Tours is
at the top of the list for tours of Turkey. They
specialize in Biblical tours and their expertise
is evident in all aspects of their trips. The
guides have a firm grasp of the ancient sites
and they communicate in an articulate,
interesting and sometimes humorous way with the
groups. They are abreast of current developments
in archaeology and are flexible enough to
accommodate in individual interests, even during
the course of travels. Tutku Tours is able to
negotiate accommodations at excellent hotels and
yet keep their prices extraordinarily
competitive. I most highly recommend Tutku
Tours. |
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MARK R. FAIRCHILD,
PH.D.
PROFESSOR & CHAIR, DEPT. BIBLE & RELIGION
HUNTINGTON UNIVERSITY
2009 |
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| For two weeks
over New Years 2008/2009, I led a group of 20
undergraduate students on an Archaeological
Study Tour of western Turkey. All the
arrangements; itinerary, accommodation, bus and
driver, national guide, and entrance fees were
arranged with impeccable care by Levent Oral and
his colleagues at Tutku Tours. Their experience
in designing Academic Tours like this was
obvious: the national guide who accompanied us,
Serdar Balin, was not only a superb interpreter
of his country’s past, but a kind and generous
companion for the students. I have been leading
Academic Tours to Turkey for over 30 years, and
this was easily the most successful. I cannot
recommend a better agent in Turkey than Tutku
Tours. |
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JOHN W. HUMPHREY,
PhD
PROFESSOR OF GREEK AND ROMAN STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY, CANADA
2009 |
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Dear Levent and
Tutku Tours
Let me congratulate you and your personnel for
the extraordinary Study-Tour you have provided
for Andrews University – Religion Department.
Teachers and students (46 of us) are extremely
happy with the complete experience: the
organization of the trip; the selection of the
hotels, the food, and the most important the
congenial, educated and passionate Tour Guide -
Mr. Maçit Saszade. He described for us, not only
the sites, but the culture, politics, society,
Islam and biblical matters. Baba Maçit as we
were calling him did a very good job. Kudos! He
earned not only the admiration and respect of
the students and teachers for his extensive
knowledge, but of his love, patience and good
sense of humor. Ayham, our driver was very
cordial, always willing to help as well.
Everyone returned with a satisfied heart. |
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Rubén
Muñoz-Larrondo, PhD
Interim Chair
Department of Religion and Biblical Languages
Andrews University
2009 |
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All of our clients
who experienced our services in the past, are a
reference for us.
Among them, you can find some of the letters we received
from our guest who have recently used our services. We
strictly believe and respect the confidentiality of our
distinguished guests. Only after your approval we care
to display your remarks on our site due to our privacy
policy.
My wife and I recently returned from an absolutely
wonderful two weeks in western Turkey. Much of the
credit goes to Levent Oral, President of Tutku Tours. We
had quite specific desires for this holiday because
forty years ago Marian and I lived in Izmir for 3 years
while I served in the U.S. Air Force. I had difficulty
finding a tour company that could manage us staying
several days locally and then going on a guided tour for
another 10 days. Tutku Tours was recommended by Air
Force people in Izmir. I looked them up on the internet,
www.tutkutours.com, then made contact by email. Our
problems were over. With several emails, Levent crafted
a tour exactly to our liking and then managed hotel
reservations, the plane from Istanbul to Izmir,
transfers, wonderful day tours of Bergama and Ephesus
from Izmir, and the driving tour of Western Turkey with
excellent English speaking guides. Indeed, the guides
were all very well educated, knowledgeable on the
ancient history, and excellent representatives of
Turkey. We even took another tour of Ephesus from a
cruise boat using Tutku Tour’s representative. I can’t
recommend this gentleman and his company any more
highly. If you want a super experience like ours, give
Tutku a chance. |
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D.
Robert Webb
Seattle, WA
November, 2006 |
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| On behalf of my family
and myself, we would like to thank TUTKU TOURS for the
excellent arrangements made throughout our visit. Our
program got off without a hitch. We were met by Cenk and
Yalkin at the airport in Istanbul and made very welcome.
The hotels were very good, clean and tasteful. Check-in
and departure was very smooth and we enjoyed great
Turkish hospitality wherever we went. We enjoyed the
many restaurants we stopped by our journey. It was
obvious each one was carefully selected to give us an
experience of the best food and we thoroughly enjoyed
our meals. The A/C Van was spacious and comfortable. The
itinerary was very well selected. Special thanks to Cenk.
He was the primary reason why we enjoyed our tour so
much. He was able to answer all the questions we posed
him. He is very frank, straight forward and a great
company to be with – a true professional. Thank you Cenk
for making this tour for us so special. |
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Michelle Correa, India
November, 2006 |
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| Dear Levent Oral, We
have returned to Omaha, Nebraska after our tour of
Turkey. On behalf of the group I want to thank you and
your people for the arrangements you made for our group.
We deeply appreciated having Husnu as our guide and
Ayhan as our bus driver. Both of them were outstanding.
On our next tour to Turkey we ask that you make
arrangements to have both of them with us. They were
exceptional with their help and concern for our group.
We look forward to working with you again in the future. |
|
Bob
Livingston, Pres.
Living Tours International LLC
Omaha, NE |
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| A Spectacular Tour.
Macit alone, is a good reason to visit Turkey. Amazing
problem solver and an ally for his guests in every
situation. He is knowledgeable about the country and its
sites. Funny, positive, great manager, a five star
guide. The best. |
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Barbara
& Eli Becker
Cleveland, OH
October, 2006 |
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| The Four Seasons Hotel
is First Class. The Tour Guide Ovunc is Fantastic! The
best ever! Will recommend to my travel agent. The
vehicle was excellent and the driver was extremely
polite and helpful. Beyond all expectations! Best tour
we have ever taken! |
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Paul
Heller
Chicago, IL |
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| I liked the quality of
hotels we stayed in. The service and food were
wonderful. Meltem is the best tour guide I have been
traveling with. She was very knowledgeable on all the
topics and background that we needed in order to see the
sites properly. I have been just about everywhere in
Europe and Eastern Europe and would recommend her as a
tour guide for other groups. The tour was much more than
I expected! |
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Laura
J. Witherington
Lexington, KY |
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| Timur has been
outsanding. Knowledgeable about all sites, helpful with
all special requests, friendly, easy to work with,
remarkable adaptable to students’ preferences in travel.
He was the ideal guide in every way. We would be most
happy to have him lead other trips for us and TUTKU
should be encouraged to select him as a guide at every
opportunity. The tour exceeded all expevtations.
Everything proceeded as smoothly as possible. Ephesus
Meeting was a very nice addition to our trip. The
setting was glorious. The hospitality was excellent. |
|
Don
Westblade
Hillsdale College, Dept. of Religion |
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