Hi. I'm Juditova. In this blog post, I'm going to share some of my experiences when I traveled to Turkey from 2019 – 2020 in the trip that I call “Tomebamba – Bosphorus 2019”. Safety in this country is one of its many virtues. I lived in Ankara, its capital.
Table of Contents
Safety when you walk
This is the most spread-out and the one that you will notice first. I remembered walking everywhere, taking the metro or dolmuş without worrying to be pickpocketed or being robbed. I used to go to a party in the disco and return at 2am by foot without worrying at all. Comparing to other countries, I feel that the safety is not necessary due of the repression of its police, but to the culture of the people.
Comparing to a previous experience
In 2008 and 2009, when I was living in Germany, and you can feel a similar air of safety in the streets. Even though, it is not as authentic as the one that it is felt on Turkey. There are more thefts (without violence) than actual assaults, for sure; one of the most spread-out examples: bicycle thefts.
For most of my life, Ecuador was my home and there is no such comparison point of safety. It depends in the province where you live. For example, you feel a natural paranoia if you are walking after 7pm; there is a chance that you get robbed. The safety is usually proportional to the amount of people walking on that street. But this an entire chapter by itself.
Safety with objects and when you buy in the street
Many shops have their products outside the actual store. For example, a neighborhood store locate the ice cream, potato chips, newspaper and other goods completely outside. It turns out that people check out a product that they want to buy, they grab it (nobody is watching) and they go inside and pay.
Borrowing a Sleeping Bag to a Stranger
Once there was a trip to Yedigöller in Turkey for camping. Since I didn't have a sleeping bag, I asked someone in a store, that wasn't a camping store, if I could borrow a sleeping bag. They agreed to borrow it for me for one night, to a total stranger! Unbelievable.
But it isn't like this everywhere
Unfortunately, this is reality is different in many countries around the world, including mine. Many, MANY stores have their goods inside to prevent theft. Many people have the vice to steal or take it away, for whatever reason (as sport or to take advantage of somebody else).
Safety when you ride the bus, metro or dolmuş
There is a term in german (because germans are very funny inventing terms) called ‘Schwarzfahren‘, which means literally “riding black”. This happens you get in a train, bus or any other public transportation vehicle and you don’t pay for the ticket. There are inspectors who, from time to time, they check if everybody inside the vehicle have bought the corresponding tickets. If someone hasn't, this person has a punishment like paying a fine.
What if there were no inspector?
I found out something amazing about Turkish buses. ‘Almost' everyone pays their buses tickets and there aren’t inspectors checking if someone didn’t. Two Italians friends rode with me once on the bus before they bought their bus cards. They were expecting to have problems if the inspector eventually showed up but I told them “There isn't such guy since it is expected that everyone does it“.
What if you enter the bus by the rear entrance? Then you go by the bus driver and pay. What if the bus is full and you can’t come close? Then you ask a stranger to grab your card and then he passes to the next one, and so on, until a person pays the card and then it comes back to you the same way it went away.
It works!
When I have done that, I just have to memorize the last digits of my card (so I don’t mix it with somebody’s else). Of course, I am speaking from my experience in Ankara here.
Safety with a lost an object
Lost phone
My landlord once lost a cellphone in a taxi. My intuition told me that he would never see it again but on the contrary, it was just a matter of time. He called the taxi company, asked them that the phone was missing and it just wasn't possible for the taxi drivers that the phone went missing. He found it eventually and I was surprised that he could retrieve it since in my country that would mean permanent loss.
Purse of a Lady
Once I heard about a story about a woman that lost her purse in Izmir and he noticed it 2 hours later that I was missing! When she came back to pick it up in the place where she left it, it was there! All the documents, money and everything else was in place!
Money lost? No problem
In Latin America, if you drop a coin on the street I bet you that if somebody finds it, he or she will keep it for him- or herself. On the contrary, in Turkey you can expect that it will remain on the ground for far longer time.
I was once on a disco in Ankara (the capital) and I realised that there were 2 coins on the ground. After 1 hour, the coins were still there. Nobody bent down to pick them up because in their culture it's present “If it is not you may not take them”.
Conclusion
In this sense, I feel Turkey safer than many countries. Before traveling here, I was in Spain and Germany for a short trip. Although you can also walk in the night safely, you can still experience pickpocketing at seldom times. For me, there is this “common honesty” attached to the culture.
Exceptions
There are, however, situations where it isn't be as safe as I described in this blog post. Those exceptions will be posted on the next blog post. Meanwhile, follow our social media for more content.
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[…] In the previous post, I shared my personal experience in the safety of this country. However, there is insecurity in […]