Middle East - Anthony Ham [522]
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WOMEN TRAVELLERS
Some women travel around virtually unmolested while others report constant harassment. Whatever your own experience and feeling, your best bet is to dress modestly and be sensitive to the society’s customs. Cover the upper legs and arms and avoid shorts or skimpy T-shirts, except in the resorts. Provided you stick to these recommendations, most men will treat you with kindness and generosity. Wearing a wedding ring and carrying a photo of your ‘husband’ and ‘child’ will help immeasurably, as can wearing dark glasses to avoid eye contact.
Men and unrelated women are not expected to sit beside each other in long-distance buses, and lone women are often assigned seats at the front, near the driver.
Women can sit where they like in eateries in tourist areas. Elsewhere, restaurants that aim to attract women often set aside a section for families. Look for the term aile salonu (family dining room). The same applies to çay bahçesi (tea gardens).
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TRANSPORT IN Turkey
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GETTING THERE & AWAY
Entering Turkey
For information on Turkish visas and entry requirements, see left.
Air
Turkey’s most important airport is İstanbul’s Atatürk International Airport (IST; Atatürk Hava Limanı; off Map; 0212-465 5555; www.ataturkairport.com), 25km west of the city centre. The cheapest fares are almost always to İstanbul, and to reach other Turkish airports, even Ankara, you often have to transit in İstanbul. Other international airports are at Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman and İzmir.
Turkey’s national carrier is Turkish Airlines (THY; Türk Hava Yolları; Map; 0212-252 1106; www.thy.com), which has direct flights from İstanbul to most capital cities around the world, including Beirut, Cairo, Damascus, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Riyadh, Tehran and Tripoli in the Middle East. Turkish Airlines also recently began flying to Iraqi Kurdistan five times a week. It has a good safety record.
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SMUGGLING TROUBLE Jean-Bernard Carillet
One of the Turkish taxi drivers waiting on the Iraqi side of the border with Turkey (at the Ibrahim Khalil border post) offered to drive us to Silopi, and while we were at the immigration counter, he returned to his car and stuffed our backpack with smuggled cigarettes. Smuggling is taken very seriously by Turkish customs, and officers searched all cars and scanned luggage. Luckily, we discovered the contraband and avoided a Midnight Express scenario. The moral of the story: never leave your luggage unattended.
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Other airlines flying to and from Turkey:
Air France (AF; 0212-310 1919; www.airfrance.com; İstanbul) Hub: Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
American Airlines (AA; 0212-237 2003; www.aa.com; İstanbul) Hub: Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.
Azerbaijan Airlines (AHY; 0212-296 3733; www.azal.az; İstanbul) Hub: Baku Airport.
British Airways (BA; 0212-317 6600; www.britishairways.com; İstanbul) Hub: Heathrow Airport, London.
Emirates Airlines (EK; 0212-315 4545; www.emirates.com; İstanbul) Hub: Dubai Airport.
Iran Air (IR; 0212-225 0255; www.iranair.com; İstanbul) Hub: Tehran Mehrabad Airport.
KLM (KL; 0212-230 0311; www.klm.com; İstanbul) Hub: Amsterdam Schipol Airport.
Lufthansa (LH; 0212-315 3400; www.lufthansa.com; İstanbul) Hub: Frankfurt Airport.
Olympic Airways (OA; 0212-296 7575; www.olympicairlines.com; İstanbul) Hub: Athens Airport.
Qantas Airways (QF; 0212-325 5536; www.qantas.com; İstanbul) Hub: Sydney Airport.
Singapore Airlines (SIA; 0212-463 1800; www.singaporeair.com; İstanbul) Hub: Singapore Changi Airport.
Land
Turkey shares borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Iraq and Syria. There are plenty of ways to get into and out of the country by rail or bus. For details on getting to Turkey from countries outside the Middle East, Click here.
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JUST ACROSS THE BORDER: AMADIYA, IRAQ
Across the border from southeastern Anatolia is an Iraqi reflection of this