Turkey, Izmir, Car Bomb, 40 ISIS Terrorists arrested

[Baba Buoy]

Erogen purged most of his top counter terrorist agents due to the attempted coup. We can expect much more terrorist events to come as a result.

[chuckr]

[QUOTE=MarkJ;2295660

Turkey has whacked a media ban on this story so perhaps cruisers in the Izmir area will not hear if this except via CF.

Mark[/QUOTE]

Mark - not sure where you got your information but is WRONG -- we are in Kusadasi and knew about it shortly after it happened.

Are we worried - well I did go out on New Years eve and did a bit more of situational awareness than I normally do. And we do keep the boat ready to go but that is normal.
And yes we do now have a bit more heightened awareness but only a bit more than last year when we stayed here.
We may stay in Turkey next winter as well but probably not in Kusadasi as they made a bunch of changes and lost the local big chandlery, some of the guys who do boat repair have no work and left the yard or are thinking about it, workers who worked on our boat last year are gone as there is no work in the yard, - Kusadasi is turning into a marina for local boats only -
but we love the location as it is right downtown and a great little/big town.

as for next year - we will judge where we will winter over based on the amount of anti American feeling in Turkey as it seems to be building from some of the posts I have seen and that is not unusual as I saw it here when I was stationed here 50 years ago while in the military.

We love Turkey and the Turkish people and the folks along the Black Sea last year were the best and very accepting of us. But ---

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by boogalloo

Boatman - you missed the point - of course terrorism, piracy and any other threat is relevant when it concerns CF, I did not say otherwise.

This kinda concerns us as we live in Turkey on our boat.

But we reframe from any political thought as this is not our country and they have a duly elected government and who am I to say how the country should be run. Like many non Americans who give their opinion on the new pres elect in the USA that we think are ignorant and have no stake in the running of America and don't really know or understand the USA - we do not comment on other countries and we have been to a lot and seen a lot -

So let's pray that the terrorist are dealt with in a very harsh manner and we can continue to sail the worlds oceans in peace and celebrate the diversity of the world and world's people.

[Krabimike]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Couldn't agree more...these areas have been tribel for their history and for a simple idiot like George Bush to think they should have a democracy was a really bad idea.

I don't think George Bush was to worried about democracy.

[TheThunderbird]

I'd like to receive more detailed reports about current situation out there.

Terrorism is just one of the many problems Turkey has.. and I dont think situation is smooth and normal. The closure of many chandlers/charter ops may have gone along many others setvices/amenities... to which extent?

Which is the current sentiment towards western people?
Are marinas secured and guarded?
Is food and fuel easily available, and at a reasonable price?
Do you have easy access to information, tv snd internet?
Why didn't you consider Greece or Cyprus?

I am from northern italy, wintering in Sicily. It is a continent on its own, with outstanding features.. but i'd never say that l "love" them :-)

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

I'd like to receive more detailed reports about current situation out there.

Terrorism is just one of the many problems Turkey has.. and I dont think situation is smooth and normal. The closure of many chandlers/charter ops may have gone along many others setvices/amenities... to which extent?

Which is the current sentiment towards western people?

There are a lot of expats here and nobody cares. Just people with money to spend. When we sailed the Black Sea which is suppose to be more conservative the people were great and even got us cay and water and either drank with us or watched us even through it was Ramadan


Are marinas secured and guarded?

Yes - very secure and the ones we have been at you can not get on the dock without going past a checkpoint and they stop everyone who they do not know. In Istanbul when we walked out we waved and said hi and left. When we came back they would not let us in until they talked to the office to make sure we were ok


Is food and fuel easily available, and at a reasonable price?

Not sure on the fuel cost but never had a problem getting it. As for food it is everywhere and in Kusadasi they even have a pork store ( that is really unusual) and food is very inexpensive and very very fresh

Do you have easy access to information, tv snd internet?

We do not have a tv but those expats that do no issues. an American across the dock from us has one and gets lots of channels - depends on what cable you sign up with I think

Internet in marina is ok and free but we also got a dongle with a cell provider and it is 89tl for 15gb - I do not know what we can not get on the marina wifi but on the dongle a bit of censorship but not news - I searched on something that had a porn sounding name and it was blocked - they seem to block porn which is just fine with us -
on the internet we watch al jazzera, skynews, rt, fox rewinds, bbc on occasion, and others


Why didn't you consider Greece or Cyprus?

Schengen


I am from northern italy, wintering in Sicily. It is a continent on its own, with outstanding features.. but i'd never say that l "love" them :-)

hope this helps

[Van Der Beek]

Originally Posted by Polux

Fact is that for many thousands of years the middle east was a bright beacon in what regards civilization. Our civilization born there.

Not even the written language started in the Middle East. It started in Europe. Bulgaria to be precise, and it dates back more than 7000 years.

This nonsense that our civilization started in the Middle East is just that...nonsense. It's typical anti European anti-white - to use an English expression - manure and it's rather tiresome.

You can compare Europe to the Middle East this becomes rather apparent, you can pick any venue you like from arts to music to science. Not just that, you can compare our respective cultures and societies today, it's not even a contest.

With that said.

Europe is for sure on its way out today, in cultural and social decline as it were. Especially western and Northern Europe, I think Eastern Europe will be last to go. What historically made Europe so great was its cultural diversity, that is now on its way out thanks to the EU and mass immigration. They want to homogenize everything and everyone and put everyone in the blender, and in such a society everything which is different eventually...dies.

Now back to sailboats and sailing.

[boatman61]

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

Utter BS. Not even the written language started in the Middle East. It started in Europe. Bulgaria to be precise, and it dates back more than 7000 years.

This nonsense that our civilization started in the Middle East is just that...nonsense. It's typical anti European anti-white - to use an English expression - manure and it's rather tiresome.

Mesopotami wasn't the cradle of civilization, Europe was. If you compare Europe to the Middle East this becomes rather apparent, you can pick any venue you like from arts to music to science. Not just that, you can compare our respective cultures and societies today it's not even a contest.

With that said.
Europe is for sure on its way out, in cultural and social decline. Especially western and Northern Europe and I think Eastern Europe will be last to go.

Maybe you don't know but men were born in Africa. Modern archaeological and ADN evidences show that a more developed culture started on the Sahara on the times Sahara was not a desert. Then, under the pressure of the dry they moved to Egypt and middle east. Some crossed directly to Europe via Portugal and Spain were you can find the most ancient European but most European cultures come to Europe from the middle east.

Archaeologically evidence regarding were was the center of the western world and were the several big cities and cultural centers were located 5000 years ago is very clear and extensively investigated. They all were on the middle east and Egypt were was developed the myths and stories that give origin to the old testament that is in great part common to the 3 great religions of that zone, Judaism, Christianism and Islamism, the ones that still dominate western world.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

Not even the written language started in the Middle East. It started in Europe. Bulgaria to be precise, and it dates back more than 7000 years.

This nonsense that our civilization started in the Middle East is just that...nonsense. It's typical anti European anti-white - to use an English expression - manure and it's rather tiresome.

Civilisation started in the 'middle east'.

The area we call The Fertile Crescent.

Nowhere near Bulgaria.

It was the birthplace of agriculture. Started by growing grains for bread (though some think the impetuous was beer!). First sedentry lifestyles of humans occured, the first villages.

Not only did they develop agriculture they developed:

The wheel.


Writing.


Glass.


Please know your history

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Civilisation started in the 'middle east'.

The area we call The Fertile Crescent.

Nowhere near Bulgaria.

It was the birthplace of agriculture. Started by growing grains for bread (though some think the impetuous was beer!). First sedentry lifestyles of humans occured, the first villages.

Not only did they develop agriculture they developed:

The wheel.


Writing.


Glass.


Please know your history

Not forgetting mathematics.. and astronomy.
Show me one site in Europe that has evidence of a city 5000yrs old with baths, water systems etc.. you won't find one.
Greek 'civilisation' only really kicked off after the remnants of Alexander's army got back with some of their discoveries..

[Van Der Beek]

@ Polux and MarkJ

Archaeological evidence have recently discovered that the written language started in Europe, Bulgaria, 7000 years ago...(that is to say 2000 years OLDER than those of Mesopotamia and those of Egyptian hieroglyphs)...not the Middle East. History will therefore have to be rewritten, and it will be.

You need to bring yourselves up to speed, we are making new discovers all the time it's not static. Not too long ago it was believed that Columbus was first with discovering the Americas. We have since learned that that was not the case.

This one is kind of interesting as well.
http://sciencenordic.com/dna-links-n...cans-europeans

[boatman61]

Damn.. and I thought it was common knowledge that native N Americans appeared via the land bridge that existed with what is now Russia and Alaska.. the Aryan expansion.. and crossings from E-W have long been the talk of legends.. usually discounted by modern man.. till proved.
History is written by the victors and the defeated fade into obscurity or obliterated.
'Knowledge of Origin' is really a fraction of time.. and a lot of guesswork and surmise..

[Sandibar]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

@ Polux and MarkJ

Archaeological evidence have recently discovered that the written language started in Europe, Bulgaria, 7000 years ago...(that is to say 2000 years OLDER than those of Mesopotamia and those of Egyptian hieroglyphs)...not the Middle East. History will therefore have to be rewritten, and it will be.

You need to bring yourselves up to speed, we are making new discovers all the time it's not static. Not too long ago it was believed that Columbus was first with discovering the Americas. We have since learned that that was not the case.

This one is kind of interesting as well.
DNA links Native Americans with Europeans | ScienceNordic

I'd like to see a reference to the paper making that claim. It takes more than one carved piece of ceramic to overthrow consensus on the history of man, even if the excavations are conducted by real archaelogists (and they are).

[Elie]

Originally Posted by yeloya

Well done Mark, you didn't miss the opportunity as a catastrophe reporter.

If you want to be 100% safe, you stay at home; there is no safe place on earth. The poor people in Berlin were not cruisiers or tourists, just poor people trying to buy something for their beloved in Christmas.
If someone considers Turkey more risky than anywhere else, he/she may chose to not to come. Unfortunately, this is actually what these terrorists are trying to achieve.

Cheers

Yeloya

Well depends of where your home is. Strangely we are used to killing by autorities, police, and killing each other for stupid reasons in our cities, schools and streets in many developped countries. We are not scared by this 'normal' killing. Most American for exemple, are armed and ready to 'defend' against their neibors(for some states, it is a mandatory to be armed!), But we are all scared to death by terrorists although they kill much less then the 'normal' killing in the street, of America for exemple. Altough being killed by a local thug or by a terrorist live victims equally dead, and one wonder if it make a difference for the victims.