Survival Guide - Discover Turkey: Experience the Best of Turkey - page 758

Toilets
Most hotels have sit-down toilets, but hole-in-the-ground models - with a conventional
flush, or a tap and jug - are common. Toilet paper is often unavailable, so keep some with
you. Many taps are unmarked and reversed (cold on the left, hot on the right).
In most bathrooms you can flush paper down the toilet, but in some places this may
flood the premises. This is the case in much of İstanbul's old city. Signs often advise pat-
rons to use the bin provided. This may seem slightly gross to the uninitiated, but many
Turks (as well as people from other Middle Eastern and Asian countries) use a jet spray of
water to clean themselves after defecating, applying paper to pat dry. The used paper is
thus just damp, rather than soiled. Where a bin is provided and paper is used to clean
(rather than just dry), it's best to place the first used sheets in the toilet and later sheets in
the bin.
Public toilets often require a payment of around 50 kuruş. In an emergency it's worth re-
membering that mosques have basic toilets (for both men and women).