Middle East: September 2013

I was robbed ın Turkey on 9/25 at a sight-seeing spot, and one of my fınger was cut opened. The spot was recommended by the public tourist information center, so I did not expect that I was the only tourist on the top around noon time. I was nervous when the robber asked my twice "where are you going?" and twice I replied that "I do not talk to strangers." He suddenly tried to grabbed my waist porch and I staggered with my body to protect it because I need my passport to go home. I screamed with my whole lung for help but the police meters away at a lower spot did not respond. The robber then used a pocket knife to cut my waist porch and backpack away from me, meanwhile his knife cut my right hand middle finger open and my blood gushed out all over my clothes.

I ran after the robber and shouted "Don't take my passport. Give my passport back." He ran around a abandoned building try to find cash in my porch. Since he could not find it he throw it back to me and ask me to give him cash. I did, and he asked "Is that all?" I answered "the rest was in my hostel." He then ran away with the cash and my i-pod.

I was shooting and crying all the time, and I had never felt so helpless in my whole life. Two local tourists heard me, and one tried to chase the robber, and some local neighbors looked at me sympathetically, but no one told me there were police only 500 meter away. I saw the police when walking around to pick up pieces of my stuffs and broken porch and backpack. The police then took me to the hospital to stitch my finger, and then the police station for testimony. I promise myself I will learn to really defend myself when I get back home. I went to a store to get a new porch and a new backpack, and scared the female store owner with my bloody clothes. So I found another male store owner to sell me the bags to put my stuffs and then took a bus back to Selcuk. I took a shower at eh hostel, washed the blood away from my clothes, and then took an overnight bus to IST.

I lost some cash and my İ-pod touch so I can only receive emails when check ın hostels. The polıce report was fıled and the suspect was ıdentıfıed. I do not want to buy another i-pod. ı-phone. or a ı-pad, because the prices are double in Turkey. Please do not expect me to reply emails as frequent as before.

On 9/26, I was asked to go to the near by police station to identify the captured suspect in IST. Another 2.5 hours of my time. On 9/27, I called to follow up with the police ın Kusadasi, and then they told me that they locked up the bad guy and found my i-pod on 9/27 but expects me to go back to pick it up. I really do not want to take 12 hrs one-way bus back to pick it up and I want to negotiate to have the police FedEx i-pod to IST police station for me to pick it up. Hope I will succeed.

The most important Turkish Word to learn is: İmdat! - "Help me!" It would have happened differently had I shouted İmdat! instead of "Help!" ın Kusadasi. Most people in Turkey do not speak English.

To patch the loss in translation, I called the TW rep office in Ankara at their emergency phone number to have their bilingual staff to talk to the police on 9/28 (Sat.). I also got a reply email from the translator used by Kusadasi police for my 1st testimony that he will call the Kusadasi police on 9/28 to tell them my suggestion. On 9/28, I was anxiously waiting for the phone calls to decide where to go next. The TW embassy called me back and told me that I need to go to Kusadasi myself.

I went to a tour agency to get the bus ticket to Kusadasi, and told them why I need to go there. The owner was very helpful, and called the Kusadasi police to see if there were other options.
The police suggested that I find a notary public to sign a Power of Attorney so they can have carrier pick up and deliver the i-pod touch. This option will have to wait for Monday. I decided to bus overnight to arrive in Kusadasi myself on Monday, then travel to my last stop in Turkey directly.

I arrived Kusadasi 8 am and then walked to the police station. I got back my iPod which has been reformatted. I restored older settings back to may 2013, but it crashed twice, so I was forced to reformatted it as a new iPod. I also negotiated with the prospector office to take me to a hospital to take off the stitches on my finger so I will sign a civil complaint against to robber to increase his sentence.

I plan to modıfy my travel plan to skip east Turkey and Iran, and go to east Europe after finishing west Turkey around 10/7. I am still trying to recover from the emotional impact of the robbery with the help of other backpackers and most importantly, my inner self. Pray for me so I can continue my journey. I still feel very low and have an urge to fly home.

My old style PC mic/earphone set for developing country was loaned out and broken by a friend, so I did not have one to use for the desktop in my hostel to make skype calls. I could not find one in the near-by Grand Bazzar, so I could not make skype calls and only1 skype IM to friends in the US. The desktop could not read my camera image reader, so I could not post the photos of the huge purple bruise on my right arm and another bruise the end of my right eye. My neck and back are still hurt from my struggle with the robber. What did not kill me will make me stronger, right?

I found a new Korean friend to baby-sit me for my 1st day after the robbery. The Princes' Islands — A group of islands off the southern coast of the Asian Side of Istanbul. "Büyükada", the biggest and most famous of them all, has fairly frequent ferry connections to Eminönü and Kabatas (on the European side) and Bostanci and Kadikoy (on the Asian side) (depending on the time of year - check out the IDO and Mavi Marmara ferry services. Out of season it might be necessary to travel via Bostanci using the Mavi Marmara ferries). At Büyükada, we had lunch and rented bicycles to look around the island.

The police then informed me to visit the local Office to identify the robbery suspect via an emailed photo and took me signed testimony.