Turkey travel - if you were planning

[Miss Marple]

If you were planning a family vacation (May) to Turkey (Istanbul, western coast, Cappadocia, etc.) would you reconsider in light of the most recent government take over of the newspaper in Istanbul and the resulting protests?  

[Amira]

No, what's currently happening wouldn't make me thinking about cancelling a trip to Turkey.  Be smart and aware. Stay away from protests, of course (make sure you're getting alerts from the US embassy because they should send out texts and/or emails of protests to avoid, if there are any they know about). 

 

What a great opportunity!  

 

 

[bibiche]

Absolutely not. You should go and enjoy yourselves. I would go back in a heartbeat.

[Lanny]

I will not tell you which U.S. Government entity he works for, you are familiar with it, but the son of one of my cousins, and his family, lived in Ankara for 2 or 3 years recently.  My cousin and his wife visited them several times, while they were living in Ankara and did some traveling within Turkey. . You did not ask about Ankara, but I will pass this along and you can make your own decision about whether or not to travel in Turkey. He had to go back to Ankara, for 2 or 3 weeks, one year ago. After that trip, he told his mother, "I NEVER WANT TO GO BACK THERE!".   That was before the bombings in Ankara a few weeks ago.   

 

If you have family in Turkey that you would like to visit, possibly go to visit them. If not, there are many other travel destinations that are much safer. Especially if you are an American or European.

 

Good luck and have a safe trip!

[diplomum]

I will be honest with you and tell you the environment here has changed. The suicide bomber in January walked into a tourist group in Sultahnamet square. We definitely consider avoiding crowds a valid security precaution. Having said that crowds are way down so lines at the main sites are shorter. Cappadocia isn't getting near the number of tourists it was, and ditto for all tourist areas. We also avoid malls on weekends and holidays, and obviously any protests or demonstrations. Getting a museum card means you skip lines at some places such as Aya Sofia and Topkapi. We still travel and visit places but we are aware of an elevated security risk.

 

Sorry if I sound all doom and gloom. I would still come to Turkey, and I still feel happy living here and still urge family and friends to visit us. It's an unbelievably amazing place of such extravagant beauty, history and diversity. I'd be happy to help if you have more questions. I just didn't want to sugar coat the feeling those of us here have in regards to security. The closing of the paper is worrying but not if immediate concern to tourists unless its closure results in demonstrations etc.

 

I hope you have an awesome trip!

[trulycrabby]

Well, I went there back in the 80's when there were marches and bombings, so don't ask me. :o

 

It's a gorgeous country, and likely to be very safe right now.

[diplomum]

I will piggy back into Lanny's comments. Turkish people are very friendly and hospitable, absolutely love kids, and we have never felt any animosity at all on a personal level for being American or European. I'm not sure what the implications are regarding Ankara, but for tourist value I agree that it doesn't have much going for it in comparison to do many other places. I promise you that the average Turk on a day to day basis will be nothing but welcoming.

[EmilyGF]

We were thinking of a trip to Istanbul and asked my BIL, who worked on the Turkey desk until recently for the foreign service.

 

He didn't tell us not to go, but said, "The security situation is dicey." 

 

Apparently 10 Europeans were killed by an ISIS suicide bomber in January.

 

I think we still would have gone had we been able to get the frequent flier miles tickets, but the return trip was sold out. :-(

 

Emily

[umsami]

At this point, no...I wouldn't change my plans at all.

 

Turkey is one of the countries I've wanted to visit for so very long. 

 

You might have a Turkish Cultural Center in your city.   Just type in Turkish Cultural Center and see what shows up.   They often offer cooking classes and Turkish language classes.

[madteaparty]

If you were planning a family vacation (May) to Turkey (Istanbul, western coast, Cappadocia, etc.) would you reconsider in light of the most recent government take over of the newspaper in Istanbul and the resulting protests?

No.

[Lanny]

I would cancel that idea. Two (2) American Citizens are among the five (5) dead today, in the bombing in Istanbul.  I would go to another country instead.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/03/19/2-americans-among-5-dead-in-istanbul-suicide-bomb-attack-wh-says.html?intcmp=hpbt3

 

The safety of your family should be your number one concern, AT ALL TIMES.

 

We live in Colombia and the number of foreign tourists here is increasing, each year, because it is much safer here now than it was many years ago.  I am willing to bet that the personnel working in the U.S. Embassy in Ankara would love to be working in Bogota, instead.   What is happening in Turkey is very tragic.  

[gardenmom5]

I wouldn't be traveling to turkey. at all. ever. I won't even purchase things originating in turkey.

 

1ds did a very involved donation to various colleges/hospitals in turkey - with a year of planning, and tens of thousands (over a hundred K) of dollars raised, free labor, equipment donated, etc.  the students paid their own way.

 

the shipping container was  seized (re: stolen) by the Turkish gov't claiming it was propaganda. uh, no.  it was more than $100,000 of donated operating and business software that would be worth considerably more on the black market.

 

the kids were completely screwed over.  the United States State Dept. stepped in, and couldn't make any headway with the turks. in getting the stuff released.

 

these kids were setting up computer labs in HOSPITALS and Colleges!  for free to the recipients. (which they couldn't do - because the gov't had taken possession of everything  they shipped.)

 

it was  the first time they planned a couple days in munich on the way back.  they'd never had a group that needed a vacation from their "donation" before - but these kids sure did.

 

No way in h3ll  would I go to turkey.

 

eta: clarity

Edited March 20, 2016 by gardenmom5