Tags
american tourist, Big City, Istanbul Tours, Istanbul travel, London, Sarai Sierra, single women, taking risks, travelling alone, women travelers
The disappearance of American Tourist Sarai Sierra has been a hot topic for the past week or so culminating in tweets and Facebook appeals. In short, the mother of two traveled to Istanbul alone after a friend pulled out of the trip at the last minute. A keen photographer, it is reported that Sarai intended to use the trip to pursue her hobby.
During the period in which she was missing, the internet was full of questions as to why a mother of two, who had never left her native country before, would travel all the way to Istanbul? Why she would then take a trip out of Istanbul to Amsterdam and back? And why was she staying in a rough part of Istanbul in a backpacker’s hostel? The general consensus in the rumor mill was obviously a ‘drug mule’.
Whatever the truth, it is a tragic outcome that this poor girl has been found dead. My heart goes out to her family.
Reading the news today online, the people leaving comments are having a field day…. Turkey bashing. These Ignorant and ill-informed people are tearing the country apart and accusing the Turkish of being thieves, rapists and terrorists and advising anyone that will listen not to travel to Turkey.
I hope, if and when you come across any of the comments online, you are intelligent enough to know that this kind of thing can happen anywhere in the world.
Any woman knows there are risks involved in travelling alone. She knows she needs to be aware of her surroundings, she knows not to trust everyone she meets and above all she knows she needs to take precautions if she is going to meet a stranger (for whatever purpose). Sadly, that is the world we live in today.
I may not be the most world traveled but I have done my fair share and as for Turkey, I have seen more of it than a lot of people. I can also tell you that I’m more wary about walking around my home town of London than I am of walking around Turkey. As for the people, I have never met a kinder and more helpful race of people than the Turks.
There will always be a higher crime rate in a big city and there will always be unethical people who flock to a big city with dubious intentions. A big city attracts tourists and that brings the mugger and the pickpocket. A big city attracts the gangster and that brings the guns and the drugs. A big city attracts the rich and that brings the burglars and the kidnappers. The needs and wants of residents and tourists of a big city include both the salubrious and the seedy. Here you will find the massage parlor, the late night drinking dens, the underground poker rooms, the streetwalker, the street corner drug pusher and all of their customers. It all goes on in a big city, it is supply and demand.
By all means stay away from a big city if you don’t feel safe but, do use your common sense and realise that all big cities carry the same risks.
Do not sit on your untraveled derriere at your computer and paint a whole country black based on ignorance, religious diatribe and gossip.
RIP Sarai Sierra
Thanks for your sane and right-on post.
I am also wrestling with what Sarai Sierra means for me…I have felt so safe in Turkey – but have felt so fearful of walking around Istanbul based on objections from a secular, super liberal husband, brother-in-law and Dad…it’s an ongoing struggle in my relationship. I wrote about it today on my blog.
In any case, I concur, RIP Sarai Sierra regardless of who you are, what you did or did not do, etc.
Hi Liz,
Thank you. I got myself all in a tizzy when I was reading the negative comments.
Just nipped over to your blog and hit the follow button – I really thought I already had you on my list???
My husband always tells me Istanbul is unsafe. I always counter with ”so is London” (I’m a Londoner). By the same token one of my best friends is a single female who lived in Istanbul for years. The city is inundated with single females who teach English in Istanbul and go about their daily lives without harm.
I so hear you on the tizzy, it is well-deserved.
I would say the same to my husband about my hometown in the States!
Despite all my English-teaching friends and others – I’m still working through this weird fear. Some sort of middle-aged phobia onset I hope to master. My sense is that she was in tourist district central and that’s not where I would be…
I felt embarrassed to “come out” in the way I did in my post – but wanted to be true to talking truthfully about the joys and challenges of my Turkish-American marriage.
Thanks for following me! I have to get you on my blogroll right now, something I have meant to do/thought I did!!!!
Such a sad outcome. I’m really peed off with some of the comments from the USA. Anyone would think a maniac in Istanbul had shot up a school.
It’s like they have been waiting for the slightest excuse!
Brilliant analogy by the way.
The sad fact is that no big city is safe these days. But like you I have felt safer – way safer in fact – in Istanbul than any other big city I have visited, or lived in. What can I say, those comments come from ignorant people who know no better. My heart goes out to that young woman and her little children……may her soul rest in peace.
Journalism is dead and all that’s left is the sensationalism used to sell, sell, sell. Those who use critical thinking skills will see this story for what it is, a use of bias to inflame emotions. Those who do not employ those skills, well…they will continue to feast on media manna that feeds their fear and anger.
Have heart…there are many Americans who fall into the former group despite what seems to be an overwhelming vocal mob of the latter.
Yes you are so very right Maya.
Thank you for your comments and your reason.
I just stumbled upon your blog, and firstly, I have to say I love it so far! In relation to this, I completely agree with what’re you are saying about the inherent risks of any big city, and also about the relative safety of Turkey compared to most other places – America is my point of reference, and I’ve never felt as safe there as I do in Turkey. It really is a shame how people view Turkey so dubiously for no real reason. I’ve been living and teaching in Malatya for the past five months and I still have people ask me things like “Aren’t you scared to be living in a Muslim country? Isn’t it terrifying being Jewish/American there? etc.”
I suppose that is the positive thing about traveling and keeping blogs, though. We can slowly start to strip away at these illusions and offer people a more clear picture of what life is truly like in Turkey.