Despite some concerns, we are happy we went to Istanbul Turkey.
How to describe Istanbul Turkey? Well, for the 5 days we wandered around, read about their current events and visited their places of importance. We weren’t too sure what to expect because 2 days before we were set to go to Istanbul, we heard that all non-essential Embassy family members were to leave Istanbul because of safety fears. The government has been facing turmoil since the failed coup in July of 2016. There had also been a few recent terrorist attacks. We decided to go ahead and go and if things got too bad we would go hide out in our apartment until we were to fly out. Fortunately, it never came to that. We felt safe where ever we went. We noticed many Police around with uzi’s and armored vehicles. In every large tourist attraction, we had to pass through a metal detector and have our belongings go through a security scanner. We weren’t too sure if their police and their military are the same thing. It was shocking that one night while we slept the government shut down all facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and YouTube. All the social media that the public has come to depend on was turned off while the government decided to arrest 11 members of their Parliament. So, that night 11 people who were elected to their office were arrested under the silence of social media. That was a real odd and unsettling feeling. Right now, a lot is being written that Turkey is losing its democracy. We will be watching the news and thinking of the handful of Turkish citizens that we met on our short stay. We wish the best for them and their country. Beth
