When asked to explain what a Turkish toilet is, most people will describe of what is commonly referred to as a squat toilet. For those of you unfamiliar with this particular type of toilet, I alluded to them briefly in my birthday blog post from back in February. You can read the whole thing here.
And while they may seem strange to Western eyes, they are (in some respects) superior to the traditional toilets we enjoy in Canada and Germany. For example they use less water and the person operating it doesn’t have to actually touch it with any part of his / her body. Also, the squatting position is supposed to be a more natural way to go number two, as this short (but tastefully made and safe for work) video demonstrates.
I also used to think there was only one style of Turkish toilet, so you can imagine my shock, when I arrived here in Istanbul and discovered that there’s a another kind that’s specific to Turkey (and hopefully, in the near future, Canada). Yesterday I visited a home renovation superstore called Koçtaş (the funny little tail on the c indicates a hard c like in cat – to get familiar with the correct pronunciation feel free to say the name of this store out loud at work a few times for practice).
As soon as I arrived at the store I made a beeline for the toilet section and snapped this photo. Can any of you see what makes the toilets here in Turkey so special?
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Die Hard Three 
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