Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Is Turkey safe these days?

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to Said : Don't know where you are from but ; a)Turkey is a secular & democratic country... b)Being a muslem country Turkey has citizens from other religions as well. Also Turkey welcomed all other religions in the past and will in the future too. c)Our religion orders friendship and peace as well as tolarence to every living creature which Allah created. d)if you had been here on 9/11 you would see the reaction of Turks towards the tragedy and how we curse the situation. e)we do not want war of anybody to ýraq or no other country. Turkey suffered a lot from terrorism. f) there is no danger in Turkey and wont be ! g) as a result, if you are suggesting another honeymoon location to people, I suggest you to use another kind of language. regards to all

Went to Turkey last March with Pacha Tours (Turkish Delight). It was fantastic. A beautiful country, great food, fabulous shopping and I always felt safe. I can't wait to return and spend more time in Istanbul. Bring lots of dollar bills and bargain, bargain, bargain.

Sari: Sorry I haven't been on for a few days to check your message. You asked about our itinerary: We flew to Istanbul and spent several days there seeing all the fabulous sights such as Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofia, Blue Mosque, St. Savior in Chora (excellent restaurant right next to it), Trip up the Bosphorus, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar and much more (you could easily spend 2 weeks in Ist. alone). On our way out of the city we rented a car, took the ferry and a short drive to Bursa. We enjoyed the Koza Han and markets there, as well as the Green Mosque and Green Tomb etc. (really liked Bursa -- could have spent more time there). From Bursa we drove to Bergama and visited the ruins of Pergamum. Then to Izmir for a short stop (also wished we had more time there), and on to Ephesus. We stayed close by in the adorable village of Sirince at HOtel Sirence -- a bit pricey at $95 per night (for 3), but it was an entire village house and included a taste of local wine upon arrival and excellent breakfasts. After visiting Ephesus and surrounds, we drove to Pamukkale, stopping at the ruined city of Aphrodisias along the way. Pamukkale was a bit of a disappointment (very resort touristy -- even though UNESCO had a lot of it torn down), but interesting, nevertheless. From there we drove back to the coast to Fetiye area. We stayed in the beach community of Oludeniz -- loved it (cheap, too). From Oludeniz we took the (spectacular and somewhat risky -- no guardrail) coastal road and made stops at Kalkan (adorable), Myra and Olympos, ending our long day in Antalya. Stayed in Antalya for a couple of nights in the Kaleichi area. Then drove through the Taurus mountains (stopped at Manavgat Falls) to Konya. After Konya to Cappadocia -- stayed in the Gamirasu Cave Hotel in the village of Ayvali. The folks there were very helpful and extremely kind. There is a ton of stuff to do in Cappadocia -- Goreme, Zelve, Dervent Valley, Avanos (Chez Galip hair museum was weird), hike the Ilhara valley, Derinuku, Kaymakli, Selime (supposedly where Star Wars was filmed), and on and on. We returned our car rental in Kayseri and flew back to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines for $85 per person. The flight was quite good. We stayed overnight in Istanbul near the airport and transferred back to the airport for our flight back to NYC. I can't tell you what an excellent trip we had. With a good map and a couple of good guidebooks, I think we did as good or better than any organized tour. Please feel free to e-mail me for any other details I can help you with.

Sari, do not pay attention to Said. I am pretty sure that a) He is American because he used the word "Dubya" which is American slang and the rest of the world does not care about their silly internal politics. I love Americans, but the nice ones don't get noticed as much as the nasty ones like this imposter. b) Not only is "Said" not Muslim, but he is clearly anti-Muslim and has not a clue what kind people Muslims are. The Muslim part of Turkey is what makes it interesting... the beautiful and haunting sounds of "Call to Prayer," the wonderful architecture of the mosques, the hammam, etc. I felt 10X more safe in Istanbul than in NYC, both of which I visited prior to 9/11. In fact, Istanbul is my favourite city in the world, above SF, NYC, London, Paris, Rome, Venice, all of which are wonderful places to visit.

Sari-Out of Chicago there is a Turkish Airlines flight nonstop(13 hours to Istanbul) or go on Air France to Paris and then down to Istanbul. Delta Airlines has a nonstop flight our of JFK daily and I think they were supposed to start service nonstop out of Atlanta. We have flown the Turkish Airline flight-it was okay but pretty basic.They only showed 2 movies for the whole 13 hours and since we had a lovely screaming child with a father holding him up in front of the screen the whole time-it was hard to sleep.I personally would fly an airline from the states if I had it to do all over again. Just make sure that you have the visa money in cash in your hand before you go through customs-makes it alot easier and faster. It was about $45 last year and good for the whole year. Have a wonderful trip-Turkey is one of my favorite countries!

Hi Sari, Turkey is more safe than US. Turkish people are thinking that you are foreign.Losts of people don't think yu are American or not.You are just our guest. I gues you know Jewish history.Turkey was help Jewish community in the past. After 11 th of September, Greece make big anti-American demonsrations . But we did not.Why don't you think same negative thinks about Greece? Because this is just because of image about Turkey. Some American people do not know anything about other countries. And maybe because of 9 / 11 American people can think about their position in the World.If there is a war,America is always there in the world. Why ? to make marketing about guns ? If we thing more about these things we will be more safe in the World. Thank you.

Sari, Your letter could have been written by me, except for the honeymoon part. We have a tour paid for, leftover from interruption last year by 9/11. I have been dragging my feet about makeing airline reservations because I have had the same fears you have. Today I decided, after much research, that with no support from any other country, Bush would not be stupid enough to attack Iraq just yet. I think it could be our last chance to go there for quite awhile, so we're going! I know so many people who have gone and my nephew lived there for 5 years, until last Sept. All say the country and the people are exceptional. But times have changed. I got on this site to see if I could find word from any recent visitors there. After reading the replys you got, I feel much more confident. We have a month so are going to do a few Gr. Islands first. I'd love to hear more comments about the ferry travel if anyone has experience. Winds should not be a big problem in Sept. Are the ferrys really awful as that one letter indicated? The best to you and your husband-to-be. What a wonderful adventure to share! Barb I'd love to hear more about inter-island ferry travel. Is it really awful? We will be in Greece and Turkey this Sept/Oct. Let me know when you plan to be in Istanbul. We could actually talk to each other in English, something I miss after awhile in a foreign country.

We were in the Greek islands and Turkey mid-September to late october in 2000. Ferry travel was not so bad, but winds did disrupt service at times. Also, there was a ferry accident while we were there that also disrupted schedules. Ferry service is cut back in September, so we were sometimes stuck on an island longer than we wanted. We also found it a bit tricky to book the ferry trip from Rhodes to Marmaris, Turkey. Checked several different travel agencies in Rhodes and were given wildly different prices and departure days and times. We loved Turkey, though. Wonderful people, amazing country.

I wish I could have gone to Turkey on my honeymoon. Now I'm married with kids and probably won't get to go until I have a health condition that I will have to constantly worry about.

Just came home from Turkey a week ago. 2nd trip. Spent more time actually out of the hotel resort and hanging with the natives that sell junk and the restruants outside. Had great time. They wanted to take me everywhere and i am american. Seriously. I had the greatest time. They speak alot of Russian there also and most tours were in Russian but i did not care. Had a great time and had more drinks for free from them. They are very worried of the Iraq thing but ..... They do not hate americans anywhere i ever went. And i was alone more than with sombody the whole time.

Barbara : Even Bush bombs Iraq Istanbul Capadocia or west part of Turkey will be far away from the war..The turkish people don't want Iraq to be bombed but they like Americans:the situation is much much better rhan 70-80'ies in Turkey. Enjoy your trip Sept is the best time

We are Amerikans living here. We have traveled the entire country. We were here Sept. 11th. We saw the NEWS and immediatly had Turks we had never met before crying at our door. We asked 'why' of course. We have been here for over a year. Concerning your Safety question: We carried at least 2 guns a piece in amerika and we still did not feel safe. We would never think of leaving our home without 'a piece' close by. Here, the thought of locking a door for us is extreme paranoya. We leave our car doors unlocked as well as our house. The only time we felt nervous and 'checked our wallets/purses' was when a American milatery ship landed and we saw what got off and walked the streets. *We had been here for about 7 months and the thought of being robbed had not crossed our mind. Also, we had not seen an American...So, you can imagine how nervous we were? (God, it's so hard to write about how safe you really are here...). There is NO bank robberies (not true, there was one in Istanbul last year that we know of), there is no burglury, car "jacking", no rape, no such thing as the crime that is crazy from what ever city you are from in America. You can literally put a purse in the middle of the street and come back 24 hours latter. It won't be there of course, but, every Turk within 5 miles will know who took it into safe keeping for you. We would walk down any dark alley in turkey without a worry. We can say this with absolute confidence. In other words,,, Turkey is the last place in the world, as far as we know, that is a place to be concerned about coming to. We have asked some local Bank Managers about ..."Why do people carry Thousands of dollars in here in clear plastic bags and they are not robbed" They always look at us like we are ...from another country... This is not an advertisement to our sub-culture of america...but, the Banks here shuffle 10's of thousands of dollars in ripped clear see thru shopping bags down the street...In such a way that my grandma could rob them. Many, many times we have put thousands of US dollars in a backpack and walked down alley ways without ANY concern. We know this is completely foreign to America, but the thought of getting robbed in Turkey is basically unheard of. Americans are treated as king and queen here. (Why, we don't know). Basically, if they do not like anybody it is the Germans. We always hear about the French, but it seems the Germans are hated everywhere. We haven't figured this out yet? Amerikans are treated as royalty--period.,,, By the people, down to the police. If/when you come here, absolutely don't be afraid to travel away from the tourist areas. If you will trust us...the best part of Turkey is away from anything touristy. Walk, taxi, Dolmus, to any side village that you can possibly get to. There is ZERO danger. You will find the friendliest people in the World here. About the concern over Iraq. WHEN the US people set there target on the next country, it will probably, probably, be in the middle east somewhere...probably Iraq. If you are in Turkey at that time, it will be much safer than being there AND the Turks will take care of you like a new born kitten. WE KNOW that all of your friends, just like ours, say..."why would you ever go to Turkey"...with that nasaly tone. We have both traveled the world and we have never seen anything like turkey. We will stay because of the SAFETY and the people. Come to Turkey!!! Please just don't say anything after you return there....We like not having thieves, rapers, muggers, robbers...here. Most of the world hates american politics as you said---"anti american". We have found this every place we have traveled. You will not find this here. Why? We do not know, but this is the absolute truth... Hope this helped.