Report from Urfa and the situation at the Syrian border

Yes, here I've been only listening to what different locals say, not trying to spark debate. There's a time and a place for that, and it's most definitely not here and now!

Police will stop all buses and check all passengers id, but apart from that, it won't affect you much at all. I'd advise staying away from large crowds in city centres especially Diyarbakir and Van. Or stay in your hotel until it passes. My hotel ordered in meals from outside in Van city during the July riot

I'm actually still in Urfa at the moment, though I could have left if I'd wanted to. I have a potential plan with another girl to catch an overnight bus to Antalya. The daytime yesterday was fine here, though there were more protesters at night. We were out in a bar and could smell some tear gas for 20 minutes or so, but other than that we were fine since we didn't go to the protest itself. Walking back you could still hear people, but they were a ways away.

So, I'm still in Urfa. I never got that bus ticket, though I'm planning to leave tomorrow. Instead I've had a few days of reading/watching news, meeting people, and talking, talking, talking. Talking to journalists and photographers, refugees, NGO workers, etc.

Today a few people from the hotel brought bags of stuff to donate down to a town with refugee camps outside of Urfa. I'm not going to say that we did a completely safe day trip, but we talked to a lot of people and decided to do it anyway. Normally I don't believe in visiting places like refugee camps or orphanages as a tourist (see: voluntourism, poverty tourism, scams, etc). Instead of just showing up and handing stuff out randomly, I made some local contacts and found out where the distribution centre itself was. Though we had to make some effort to find it (and at one point had a trail of children behind us), we eventually got there and met an English-speaking Turkish volunteer who gladly accepted the stuff we'd brought -- mostly toiletries and soap, some of our unneeded clothes and shoes, stuff for kids, etc -- and then showed us around. She explained how the items are received, sorted, and distributed, and we talked about the refugees, the war, the cooperation of the Turks and Kurds in the aid effort, and the various NGOs that have come in. It was powerful and sad to see the refugee camps, and made for a very stressful day, but in the end it was an incredibly rewarding experience.

I don't recommend that anyone come to this area, even as I'm typing this from here. The situation is changing very quickly and things are too unpredictable. I'm quite ready to put some distance between myself and the Syrian border. I'm going to try to set up a fundraising campaign to help get some money directly to the distribution centre, so when I figure out how to accomplish that I'd like to post it here.

Thanks for keeping us informed and kudos to you for helping the refugees. I know from the Van riots in July that word of mouth was a more effective way of finding out what was really happening on the ground. Few Turk newspapers will touch a story criticizing the Turkish Government. Spent an hour looking on internet and almost nothing, only the local Van newspaper ran a short story. Please be careful. I thought I was going to get shot in the back by police. I was trying to get to my hotel and a policeman in riot gear yelled at me to turn around and head away from my hotel. I spent an hour in a strange hotel I spotted in a side street to escape the tear gas. Streets were blocked off on 3 sides by police and protesters leaving me no choice.

Thanks Muteki for the insight info on the situation in Urfa, which I just read with great interest. I was planning to go to Hasankeyf in two weeks, but sadly had to decide not to. Hard to say what things will be like by then, let's hope for the best... Have a safe journey.

I'm writing now from Fethiye - major change of scenery. I'm doing research on ideas for the fundraising campaign, and will post when I have it set up. I hope to visit SE Turkey again when things (hopefully) calm down.

Muteki,
I really appreciate your reports from urfa. I'Ve decided to postpone my visit there to some other time - but can report that I was in Antakya (Hatay) Oct 7 and things were fine there then - economy a little down due to the war but fine for a visitor. Good luck with your campaign for the refugees.

Tully22

Tully22 it would be great if you could find the time to post up a trip review for your visit to Hatay.It is not an area for which we have a TR up to now on the sticky and in view of what is happening in that area right now I think many people would find it very useful.
Yes!.....payback time for any help you've been given from the forum :))

The museum in Urfa is now due to open January 15th, a delay of 6 or 7 months from the previously announce date.

The situation in Urfa city centre, especially during daylight hours, is the same as ever. It is calm, and there are no signs of trouble. The same goes for Antakya and Antep. I will update re Mardin and Diyarbakir as I get reliable feedback.

However, all of this can change at any minute (as it can in Istanbul and other large cities, too), so it pays to be a very savvy traveller, and keep abreast of updates.