"In Transit" at Attaturk airport, Istanbul?

Thanks for the reassurance and help, Swampeastmike! You might be right. We called the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa, and although they too were vague, they figured there was a way to get our baggage without leaving the transit area, and then check-in with Atlas within the transit area. Here's hoping! Thanks again for your time and interest

So.....having lived through this experience, I can advise first-hand!
When you arrive, do not purchase a visa and do not go through immigration. Rather, find the transfer/transit desk for your airline within the transit area and tell them about your dilemma. They spoke English and requested our baggage tag receipts. They then sent an agent down to the luggage carousel to put aside our bags and attach new tags onward to our final destination. These new tags were provided by the new airline so the airlines collaborated with each other, even though they didn't have an inter line agreement between each other. We never saw them perform this transfer so we were going on faith that all was well. Surprisingly, even after sitting somewhere in the luggage underworld for 14 hours, our bags got onto the correct flight and we claimed them at 2:30 am in Kuwait City!!
Maybe we were just very fortunate and were served by very helpful agents in Istanbul....but it saved us US$70 each being able to avoid purchasing a visa just so we could claim our luggage and re-check it within minutes. Sometimes you just have to trust the system, eh?

Thanks for the feedback. Now I know what to do . I am very happy for the happy ending. Glad you got your bags and saved money.

Thanks for folks who helped you, in the airport and members on this board.

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