Is Turkey safe for travel?
 

We were planning a first-time visit to Turkey for September/October, but we are now wondering if it is safe to go, especially to Istanbul. The news from Egypt has added to that concern, as we're wondering if a similar situation could occur in Turkey. Any input would be welcome.

It's really pretty simple in situations like this, at least for us Brits.

The UK Foreign Office (www.fco.gov.uk) will either recommend against all but essential travel to a country (or parts of a country), or it won't. One or the other!

If it DOES, then you should cancel, and with UK holiday companies you will get your holiday money back.

If it doesn't, then you shouldn't cancel, as it isn't necessary and if you choose to cancel you won't be refunded your cash.

It's all too easy to get the impression from endless media reports that it's 24/7 rioting in 100% of the country, when in reality it's probably a 1 hour demonstration in 0.1% of the country.

I was once advised by family & friends not to go to Ukraine because of all the disturbances. The media were simply showing a few 1-hour demonstrations in a few cities over and over again, in reality when I got there I didn't see anything wrong whatsoever!

I was in Istanbul in May, and saw no problems at all. The FCO advice for Turkey is simply to 'avoid demonstrations'.

man_in_seat_61 is right. even peaceful demonstrations can erupt into clashes of violence. on the other hand you may run into no issues at all but please exercize EXTREME caution if you do go.

We were in Istanbul DURING the Taksim demonstrations (arrived June 10th). It was not dangerous, and outside of the immediate Taksim area you would not even have known there were demonstrations going on. We went up to Taksim one night when the government was supposed to "arrive" at 7 pm. We left by 7 but I can tell you that between 6 and 7, it was totally peaceful - just some smoke in the air from a burning bus (we're still not sure who set it on fire).

Tailsock,

I'm just curious what you consider EXTREME caution. How would that be different than avoiding protests or demonstrations, for example?

We visited Istanbul in early June, and I am usually one to worry about this type of thing, but it was completely safe...no need for "extreme" anything, just avoid protests and demonstrations (the locations/current status of which are easy to learn about online or by asking locals).

I came back on July 17th, 2013 from an amazing 13 days Gate 1 trip to Turkey. I loved everything about this company and Turkey. I felt very safe there. The Turkish people are very friendly. I saw some peaceful demonstration. One good thing about my trip, was less crowds and that meant less waiting in line for major attractions. It worked out to our advantage. Turkey is a country that must be visited and I think Gate 1 covered the major cities in 13 days. Don't miss the hot air balloon in Cappadocia.

Friends of mine were in Istanbul in early June and had no problems at all. I gather from what they said, that Istanbul is large enough that it was very easy to avoid the demonstrations/riots.

Our 11 year-old daughter and I were in Istanbul in late June (24-28), and walked Istiklal Cadesi all the way to Taksim Square. Quiet and peaceful and pleasant were the streets; at the time of our visit there were more tourists taking photos in the square than anything else. We felt completely safe. We are Americans living in Austria: at the time the US State Department urged "travel caution," and the Austrian Foreign Ministry was telling citizens not to travel to Istanbul.

At no point did we decide to cancel our trip to Istanbul. Had there been an indication of demonstrations or other concerns, we simply would have remained in Sultanhamet and Fatih, both areas of which offer plenty of diversions for visitors.

Cairo, right now, on the other hand...

10 people have just been killed and many more injured in an explosion in Sultanahmet, the main tourist area in Istanbul, so I would say no, it's not safe, and to be honest, I found it quite incredible that people were trying to let on that Istanbul was safe for foreign tourists given the current situation. It seems to be fashionable on here to make other people feel silly for worrying, but unfortunately there was real cause for concern. I would not even consider travelling to Istanbul at the present time. Thoughts with the victims and their families.

Konak-Turkey is a very large country. Izmir-city of 4 million. Istanbul-city of 16,000,000. Maybe skip the usual (Aya Sofia, Blue Mosque) type sights this trip and focus instead on the very, very large number of other places to go all over this beautiful country. Go to Ephesus, Selcuk, Sirence. Spend time in some of the lesser known neighborhoods of Istanbul - on both sides of the Bosphorus. Take a cooking class. Visit art galleries. Take a ferry somewhere. Eat at restaurants all down the coast to Bodrum. See archeological ruins. Check out the HurriyetDailyNews and look at the other places to go and things to do and see while in Turkey. There are a ton of places to nose around in in Turkey - you don't have to stay in one place nor visit the tourist guide monuments. Strike off on a different path and you'll have a terrific time.

My last visit to Turkey was in November, and of course I felt safe. But feeling is not knowing.

Although APBaron is right that Turkey is a huge country and that outside Istanbul and Ankara you find many attractions, the recent suicide bombing was really disturbing.

The bomb detonated right in the middle of a group of (German) tourists right in the middle of Istanbul's main touristic district.

These means, the terrorists are starting to attack tourists. And how do you know that they won't throw a bomb in Ephesus or Antalya after the attack in Sultanahmet? Or in the airport?

Honestly, it is hard to be safe in Turkey nowadays. And please forget all these naive kinds of advice like "be careful" and "look around" and "take the usual precautions" and "don't provoke people wearing explosive belts". All these bombings occur out of nothing and you can do nothing to be safe.

<B>ClementineLdn:</B> >><i> I found it quite incredible that people were trying to let on that Istanbul was safe for foreign tourists given the current situation. It seems to be fashionable on here to make other people feel silly for worrying, but unfortunately there was real cause for concern. </i><<

That is because they were posting THREE YEARS AGO - before the current problems and before Isis even existed. This is an old thread topped by a spammer. (It helps to check the dates).

And yet the title of this thread is still relevant today.

It shows how things have changed in the last three years. And in the last week.

I find it sometimes necessary to dig out old threads.

>>And yet the title of this thread is still relevant today.<<

True, but ClementineLdn' criticism of earlier posters wasn't relevant . . .

Anyway, I'd like that somebody tells me where it is safe today ?

Not Turkey (today...) and last year 100+ deads in Ankara
Not Frnace (Paris in oct)
Not Belgium (level of safety raised several times to max and attacks 'avoided' according to authorities
Not UK (when were the last bombings ?)
Not Spain (when were the last bombings ?)
Not Tunesia (last year)
Not Egypt
Not Germany (Cologne ...)

Not ... not ...
US ? nothing big except usual killings in schools since 2001.

Add to that natural disasters (Thailand Tsunami, drownings in France, UK, China, India etc due to torrential rains).

Nowhere can be said 'safe' anymore.

I wasn't criticizing posters on this thread specifically but I've seen plenty of posts here very recently declaring that Turkey and Istanbul are perfectly safe to visit. Obviously nowhere is 100% safe and travel always carries a risk, but a lot of the advice given here comes across as quite naive.

Blimey, old thing, you are as daft as Princess Michael after a day of large pink gins!

This thread is from 2013. Did you lose your bifocals again? Can't seem to sort out what year it is?

You are the one who is naïve. Naïve and myopic.

You are more likely to be killed by choking on a sausage in bed as being blown up by a bomb.

Eat your sausage, sweetie darling.

Keep calm and carry on.


Thin

>>I wasn't criticizing posters on this thread specifically but . . .<<

BUT you did post your criticism in <i>this</i> thread. If you have people you want to criticize for being naive . . . why not do it on threads where they posted.