I've been reading this discussion, which majorly consists of opinions and anecdotes directly from professionals, during my coffee break to my study for ATPL exams tomorrow. Disregarding some heavy and unfair expressions, I prefer to view and consider everything posted here in an objective way. However, as you can guess, it's still quite sad for me to read such negative opinions about Turkish Airlines, both as a Turkish citizen and a Turkish Airlines cadet.
I won't try to defend the company blindfoldedly (because I'm yet to begin my job), nor I'll support the lack of any constructive criticism which would be beneficial not only for the company but also the international commercial aviation (considering TA's widespread routes around the globe). With all my respect to the professionalism and experience speaking here, however; I'd like to remind everybody commenting here about the whole new generation of pilots on the way to Turkish Airlines and to the world's aviation.
I don't currently know much about my senior colleauges, but what I see here around me in my training is lots of hardworking brilliant, open minded pilot candidates. We are all "at-least" university graduates, who have succesfully passed a vigorious series of aptitude, language and psychological (not to mention health-related) tests which took almost an entire year. Half of us under full-time training in USA while the other half is being trained full-time in the company's brand-new training facilities in our country. Most of all, our progress is thoroughly monitored in both facilities and frankly speaking, I haven't seen any tolerance for failure or ineffectiveness in any of the training phases. These people (including me) are thoroughly and fairly selected, I can assure you on this as a prospective Turkish Airlines pilot who will be the first in his family to be in aviation.
As a second thought, reading all these stuff actually motivated me to study more. Wow! Thank you!
I'll be looking forward to share the sky and meet you to learn more from your experiences. Safe flight to everybody!