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.

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
 

Dear Levent,
Please accept my sincere gratitude for your guidance and assistance in planning for our recent trip to Turkey and Greece--our trip was a tremendous blessing! The people who joined me on this trip continued to express appreciation and pleasure from making the journey. It was also a joy to meet you personally and have the opportunity to enjoy the meal in the seaside restaurant in Izmir.
Also, I cannot thank you enough for the privilege of working with Cenk--he is a great man in every way! It was such a joy to become friends with him and you can certainly be proud to have him on your staff! He is not only an excellent tour guide, who knows his information and can share it effectively, but he is a gentleman who truly cares for the group he guides!
It will be my honor to recommend your company to anyone who is interested in making a trip to any region that you provide the planning and guides! Hopefully we will be able to work together again in the future. May the Lord continue to bless you and your staff!

Blessings to all,

Glenn L. Ward, Pastor
Acton Baptist Church
June, 2010

Dear Levent,

What a wonderful time we had visiting your beautiful country May 7-28 with
Dr. Mark Wilson and Dilaver Oncu. This was our first visit to Turkey, and the trip exceeded our best expectations. Thank you and the staff at Tutku for making our travel arrangements. Everything went flawlessly. Dilaver is an excellent guide. We learned much from him and he took good care of us throughout the trip. The drivers were very professional; Erdugan was especially patient and helpful. We couldn’t have accomplished our travel goals without Mark, Dilaver, Erdugan, and Tamer, and of course Tutku Tours.

I look forward to travelling again with Tutku Tours.

Sincerely,

Karen H. Jobes, Ph.D.
Gerald F. Hawthorne Professor of New Testament Greek and Exegesis, Wheaton College
June 1, 2010

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

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.

Barbara & Eli Becker-
Cleveland, OH
October, 2006

Tutku Tours is the leading provider of educational and historical tours of ancient and modern Turkey. They have been our partner in several study tours and have provided us with the service that one would dream of. We recommend them without reservation.

Ward and Laurel Gasque,
Vancouver, BC, Canada

To all at Tutku tours,
Thank you so much for a wonderful trip to Istanbul. Your services were excellent and we will recommend you highly,

Best regards,

Susan Norwitch

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, Ph.D., Director,
Asia Minor Research Center and
Seven Churches Network
Visiting Professor of Early Christianity, Regent University
 

Dear Cenk,

Greeting from the other side of the world. Thank you for a wonderful tour of Turkey. What a beautiful country and I appreciate your knowledgeable insight about the Turkish culture and all the places we visited. The students are having a blast with the facebook page, might want to check it out of you have a minute. Again, thank you for a wonderful tour, I hope you had a easy trip home and a restful weekend. Lets stay in touch.

Best regards,

Director, School of Art
College of Visual and Performing Arts
The University of Montana

Dear Levent,

Tutku Tours supported the Sinop Regional Archaeological Project during our summer 2010 field season by providing us with a large van. It was just what we needed as we scaled the dizzying Pontic Mountains mapping ancient Greek and Roman roads. Two years ago Tutku arranged a tour operator and driver for our field school as well. Both experiences have been excellent. We have been impressed with how well Tutku arranged everything - getting the vehicle in place on short notice, and following up on every detail. We have Tutku Tours to thank for ten new sites that have been found in the Sinop highlands, and look forward to working together for years to come.

Sincerely,

Assoc. Prof. Owen Doonan
Director, Sinop Regional Archaeological Project Art History Program,
Art Department California State University Northridge

As you can see from our letterhead, we have had considerable personal experience in dealing with tour operators in many parts of the world, as well as acting on behalf of those here in Canada.
We recently had the pleasure of visiting Turkey and being provided individual tour services by your company, and in particular, by Ms. Eser Sedef.
My wife and I can only comment in the extreme positives as to the manner and professionalism exhibited by your company, and in particular, the personal service and guidance that was provided to us by Ms. Sedef.

William F. Clark
Canadian Association of Tour Operator

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.

Don Westblade
Hillsdale College, Dept. of Religion

LETTER FROM METHODIST THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL IN OHIO

Dear Levent and Yesim: As president of the American Theological Library Association I recently published in our bimonthly Newsletter a letter from the president to all of our members suggesting a trip to Turkey. While Tutku Tours is not explicitly mentioned, if I get enough of a response to my suggested trip you shall be hearing from me about planning it. We were very happy with all the arrangements you made. Tomorrow I leave for our annual conference which will be attended by over 400 members. I shall be interested in hearing from those members who show interest about such a future trip, and will speak most approvingly of Tutku Tours.

Paul Schrodt
Director of the John W. Dickhaut Library, and Research Professor of Historical Theology Methodist Theological School in Ohio
P.O. Box 8004
3081 Columbus Pike
Delaware, OH 43015-8004
Email: pschrodt@mtso.edu
Telephone office: (740)362-3435
Telephone receptionist: (740)363-1146

I want to thank you for all the fabulous arrangements you made for my Turkey trip. The guides were superb. The transportation arrangements worked smoothly. The hotels were perfect choices. I wouldn't change a thing.

Again, many thanks for perfect planning.

Wendy Luke
The HR Sage
Washington, DC 20037
Phone: 202 234 3388
Website: http://thehrsage.com/

We cannot say enough good things about the whole experience! Your Tour Guides Mehmet in Istanbul, Mehmet in Cappadocia and Cenk after that and their drivers were exceptional! Their knowledge, their care for us and their dedication to their work was more than we could have expected. Because of Tutku we all fell in love with Turkey.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

June Mix, Barb Hotte, Dwight and Dolores Gunderson
May, 2010

LETTER FROM HUNTINGTON COLLEGE

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.

Mark R. Fairchild
Prof. Bible & Religion
Huntington College
Huntington, IN 46750
260 359-4235
mfairchild@huntington.edu

Dear Levent,

Now that we are settling back into our normal routines I did want to take a moment to thank you for all your extraordinary assistance in making our time in Turkey such a very valuable learning and positive personal experience. From our first to our last dinner in Izmir with you, your concern, graciousness and meticulous planning were very evident and for this we are most grateful. Not only did we have very high regard for Jack as a driver, but also for the VW van that we had access too. And what we especially appreciated about Dil was not only that he got us to all the sites that we had wanted to access but also his genuine personal concern for our well being at all times and his strong desire to make our journey a very deeply positive experience, which it was in large part due to his generous effort.

In short, then, Kathy, Helen and I are all very deeply grateful to you for your many kindnesses, your careful advance planning and your integrity.

Hoping to continue our conversation and with much appreciation, Karl

Karl P.Donfried, Dr. theol.
Elizabeth A. Woodson Professor of Religion and Biblical Literature Emeritus Neilson Library A10 Smith College Northampton, MA 01063
413 585-3669
 

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.

John W. Humhprey, Ph.D.
Professor of Greek and Roman Studies University of Calgary, Canada

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.

C. Patrick Hotle
The John A. Sperry Endowed
Chair of Humanities Associate Professor of History Director of Study Abroad Office Culver-Stockton College