In the normal world, people trust the other party when making a contract. In the past, Turkey was a place where you could make a hand shake deal with confidence. There are still some people who count on handshake deals, while there are other people who even trust a written agreement. But what would you do if that written and trusted agreement is a trap in itself?

The relationship between tenant and landlord is the most common subject of court cases in Turkey. The fact is that there are some landlords who cause problems for their tenants, and on the other hand there are some tenants who create real headaches for their landlords. Expats living in Turkey may have also realized this. I have been receiving e-mails asking questions about tenant-landlord problems and other rental matters.

The good ol’ days saw bright and cheery interviews with local governors published in newspapers. The news usually had the same wording -- you could simply change the name of the city and apply it to all resorts in Turkey. “Thousands of overseas investors are buying from Didim, a resort town on Turkey’s Aegean coast. We are planning to form a structure in which all foreign residents will be represented at Didim City Hall.

I have been writing about some professional Turkish law-related matters for some weeks and I have to get back to my inbox. I have three questions to respond to today. The first one concerns military checks and property. It reads as follows: “Dear Mr. Çektir, I have read a few worrying articles in Today’s Zaman about problems for foreigners buying properties in Turkey.