Roadblocks and security checkpoints in Istanbul and other major Turkish cities are limiting movement for travelers as Turkey’s government tries to stop widespread protests against the arrest this week of the president’s main political opponent, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
In Istanbul, roadblocks, closed metro stations, barricades and police checkpoints have hamstrung the city’s transportation system. Taxis are also affected by the police checkpoints.
Flights in and out of Istanbul’s airports have also been impacted with many delays and some reroutings of flights.
Canada’s government issued a high-alert travel advisory for travel to Turkey stating the crackdown has led to some “tourist detentions.” The government warned of arbitrary detentions of some travelers at Istanbul entry and exit points.
Germany’s government has issued an advisory that any social media comment or posts—including sharing or liking of posts even outside of Turkey—have been used to arbitrarily detain some German citizens.
The U.S. State Department has issued an “ exercise increased caution” warning level for travel to Turkey.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6944 posts
From BBC - live coverage: Huge protests across Turkey after president's main rival jailed
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
826 posts
Kenko, thanks for keeping us posted.
From looking at several sources, I gather that things are .... well, interesting. I am hearing reports that rails, roads and bridges leading into central Istanbul are closed, and Taksim is barricaded. It seems pretty widespread, too. Protests are going on not only in Istanbul but also in Ankara, Izmir, Denizli (Pamukkale), Antalya, Konya, and many more cities.
By the way, "exercise increased caution" is Level 2, the same advisory level as for France, the UK, and Italy. The US State Department has not increased the level since the protests began. I am kind of surprised that the State Department hasn't bumped that up yet.
Posted by
OP
Citizen of the World
2507 posts
The situation has significantly deteriorated since yesterday when Emamoglu was sent to jail pending trial on the government’s “corruption” and “terrorism” charges.
Today the opposition CHP political party members voted to confirm Emamoglu to be their Presidential nominee in the next election. The CHP Party invited the general public to vote as well.
The result was that 1.6 million CHP party members voted for Emamoglu- the only candidate on the party’s ballot. That was expected.
What was not expected is that another 15 million Turks from the general public turned out to vote for Emamoglu. That is an incredible show of support in a country of 85 million people and it has shaken the current Erdogan government to its core.
Unfortunately. for travelers, the stage is set for difficult times ahead in Turkey as an entrenched government uses all its power to crush any opposition to it.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
826 posts
Unfortunately. for travelers, the stage is set for difficult times
ahead in Turkey as an entrenched government uses all its power to
crush any opposition to it.
Yep, that's what scares and saddens me. Turkey is such a wonderful country, and I just hate that they are going through this.
(Not to sound flip, but I was debating between a (solo) road trip in western Turkey and a group tour of Tunisia for my next trip. Guess I'm glad I chose Tunisia. I still haven't given up on the idea of the idea of going to a bunch of obscure ancient sites in western Turkey sometime, though. )