Katya R .

Please, read my letter to the Turkish Ministry of Tourism to know about
my bad experience in Turkey:

Dear Sirs,

My name is Ekaterina Rykova and I am a journalist from Moscow, Russia.


I greatly appreciate the Turkish people for their hospitality and
professionalism, and I love your beautiful country for its nature and
historical heritage. That is why when I unexpectedly had a week off in
mid June of this year, I did not hesitate to go to Turkey. I was hoping
to combine business with pleasure - write a test of a camera, given to
me at my office, and enjoy the sun and the sea. I especially wish to
thank Evelina operator for professional services and care during my
short one-week stay in Alanya June 18-26.

However I'm incredibly sad to inform you about the changes I've seen in
Turkey compared to what I loved so much two years ago, when I last
visited it. I was hoping to find open and helpful people, but found the
land full of skillful and cruel thieves and impudent, absolutely
indifferent police.

My sad story began on June 20, Monday at 2 a.m, when I was sitting on
the public beach of Alanya, chatting with my friend, looking at the sea
and enjoying the stars, the moon and the mountains around. The next day
I was planning to go to Cappadocia, so I had to have the most of the
sea, that explains why I was on the beach at such a late hour (I'm
sorry I have to explain this, but the humiliation I had to suffer at
the local police station makes me do that). After a nice chat we
decided to go home, but we were horrified to find that my bag which had
been lying on the chaise longue near me, was gone. It was stolen. Not a
very pleasant surprise, considering indide there was the camera I had
to use for work, my money, my driving license, medical insurance and
some small things.

Having found the bag was missing, we immediately called the police. The
policemen arrived very fast, withing just 5 minutes. They said if they
found the bag, they'd return it to us and that we should come to the
police station during the day time. That's what we did. The bag was
never found, the trip to Cappadocia was cancelled, because of the
stolen money and camera. But what's worse, the whole week in Turkey was
absolutely spoiled because of what happened after the theft.

The problem was that the police were not willing to give me the paper,
confirming the fact of the theft. They did not even register my call. I
had to visit the local police station (Obagol, about 3 km from Alanya
city center) SIX times and all the time they were too rude and did not
want to deal with my case - they simply did not want to register the
case of the THEFT. They always had reasons of not giving me the paper
or writing a protocol, saying I should have written a request right
after the bag was stolen, though the officers told me the opposite.
Then they had computer problems, then there was a new shift and it all
began all over. I want to stress, that each time I came, police
officers were RUDE to me, always making me feel guilty that my bag was
stolen to the point that they were shouting at me. In the end, some
officer said he'd give me the paper, but still wouldn't write that my
bag had been stolen, but rather that I had lost it myself. Ok, I
realized I did not want to go to the station the seventh time, but I
just needed a paper from police for my work, because the camera was not
mine and the article for the magazine was disrupted. Nobody understands
Turkish anyway where I live. I must make it clear, that all these
visits to police were made with a turkish interpreter and there could
be no misunderstanding of what was happening.

The remaining days of my vacation were spoiled by another case of
outrageous behavior of the Turkish police in Alanya. A woman from my
hotel, Ms. Alla Onopolskaya, was knocked down by a biker, when she was
crossing the street in Alanya city center. She was doing it at an
appropriate place, e.g. at a pedestrian crossing. However, in the
central police office she was being forced to sign a protocol, which:

1. She could not understand as it was in Turkish;
2. Turned out to be all false after it was translated to her, saying
she was crossing the street (not saying a word about the pedestrian
crossing) and had no claims against the biker, which she in fact had,
for her body was all bruised over and her clothes torn and damaged.

When Ms. Onopolskaya refused to sign the protocol, police officers
started threatening her. They were threatening to arrest her for three
days for not carrying documents if she did not sign. When she said she
would not sign and would apply to the Russian consulate to solve the
problem, policemen simply blocked the door by standing in the doorway
and did not let her out. The incident took place at 9:30 p.m. and they
were trying to make her sign the false protocol until about 4 a.m. in
the morning. The next day, an Alanya newspaper reported on the
accident, praising the biker for taking the woman to hospital (which
was true) and the police for successful resolution of the problem
(which was absolutely false). According to Ms. Onopolskaya, the biker
gave a $100-bribe to the police officers for hushing up the case.

Unfortunately, this list of crimes that I've witnessed in Alanya is not
yet full. As I usually work at night, I can call myself a night-hawk.
That is why I took a couple of long, night-time walks during my stay.
One night, in particular, I was walking around the discos near the
central harbour of Alanya. I was shocked at what I saw there from about
2 to 4 a.m. I saw several women, whose bags were stolen, I saw bunches
of thieves hunting for these bags, I saw several women nearly raped (I
must admit they were drunk, but there's no excuse for using them), and
I did not see a single policeman around!!!

One final detail to complete the story of my "beautiful" vacation in
Turkey. The night before leaving, my friend and I went to the beach to
enjoy the sea and the stars. It was about midnight. We were sitting on
a chaise longue again, chatting about life, but this time carried no
bags, nothing with us. Suddenly, I noticed my friend twitch and looked
in the direction of his look. A man was crawling really close to our
place to see if there was something to steal! We shouted at him and he
started walking straight at us with his hand behind his back as if he
had a knife in it, so we had to step back and stop our shouting in
order to save our lives. The man was not alone. Two men were
"strolling" on the left and two on the right side of our place. I've
often seen such groups of people walking about the beach and the
harbour.

What does it look to me as a visitor, as a journalist, as a woman? I
don't want to throw about any accusations, but to me it looks as if all
these crimes in Turkey are happening with the connivance of the police
and thank to the police. It looks like the Turkish police is not
interested in preserving Turkey a harbour for tourists, but reather
making it a crime center - and they have already succeeded in it! I
have never seen so many crimes in my life even though I'm a travelling
journalist. What's more appalling, if a victim tries to find
protection, he/she should forget about the police in Turkey, for once
you come to their office - you'll turn from the victim into the
accused. Applying to police in Turkey is a dangerous thing!

It is my duty as a journalist to tell this sad story about the country
I love so much to all the people, who plan to have a nice vacation in
once the most peaceful resort of the region. It is my duty to warn
people of the irresponsibility of the Turkish authorities, of the
rudeness of the Turkish police, of the criminals swarming in the
tourism centers. It is my duty to inform you of this, hoping you will
take pains to redirect my message to all those, who care about the
peace and happiness of your country and who will take measures to
improve the situation, which is already at its worst.

Best regards,
Ms. Ekaterina Rykova,
Russia, Moscow