Istanbul Warning or Danger Tips by maykal

The backstreets of Beyoglu may look picturesque, but some of them are decidedly risky, especially for women, even more especially at night. There are no hard and fast rules as to which ones are ok, which ones are not, but generally if you see many people in a street, then it is fine. If the street is empty, save for one or two people loitering in doorways, better to err on the side of caution and pick another street.

At the Taksim end of istiklal caddesi, some of the streets with bars also house many cheap hotels. Where there are cheap hotels, there are cheap girls and boys on offer, so be warned. And whatever you do, don't cross the wide Tarlabasi Bulvari and try to explore the backstreets around here...it is notorious for prostitution and drug dealing, and anyone seen to go in this district will be assumed to be involved in either one or the other. Stay well clear!

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I've mentioned Tarlabasi above, the area just close enough to Taksim Square for a hapless tourist to stumble into quite unawares. Well, this is not the only place in Istanbul where drugs and sex take over at night. Over in the old city, Aksaray has a bad reputation. It might seem harmless enough by day, with hundreds and thousands of shops mainly catering to Arab and Russian bulk buyers, but at night the prostitutes come out in force. A Syrian friend who studied with me used to live in an area called Capa (pronounced "chappa"), which did not seem a particularly risky area, but one night he was set upon by a group of what he called gypsies. He was fairly lucky and wasn't seriously injured, but his friend had to be taken to hospital. Mentioning this incident to local friends, they all seemed to say "ah yes, Capa..." as if this is quite a common thing. I don't know, but as there is very little reason for a tourist to go there anyway, there's not much need to panic. Aksaray on the other hand is the terminus of the airport metro, so you might find yourself arriving there after dark. Stick to the well lit streets and catch a bus or tram out of there as soon as possible.

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The bar scam...according to guidebooks this is also fairly common, and although it didn't happen to me, my accident-prone Syrian friend did have a nasty story to tell! "Saatiniz var mi, abi?" asked a shady character. At first, it would seem he is innocently asking the time, but this is just a conversation opener, and soon the topic will change to girls. A bar will be recommended, why don't you just go and have a look with your new "friend"? On arrival in the bar, everyone is very friendly to you, girls come and sit at your table and drinks arrive. More drinks, everyone laughing, having a good time. Then the time comes to leave, and those cokes the girls were drinking appear to have had vodka added somewhere between being served and turning up on the bill. And guess who is paying? You!! My Syrian friend and his housemates were presented with a bill for $140, quite a lot for a round of six drinks! Of course they created a fuss, and things turned nasty. They only managed to get out of the situation when they realised one of the troublemakers was Kurdish and spoke to him in his own language about how much shame he was bringing upon the Kurdish people, which worked for them as the bill was dramatically reduced to $20. However that probably won't work for you, so the best advice is just not to accompany any strangers to bars with promises of girls.

With so many cheap watches being sold on seemingly every street corner, I have to wonder why anyone would need to ask the time in Istanbul...if you are male, alone or in an all male group, and someone asks you for the time whether in Turkish, English or Mongolian, just walk away.

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