The social media and the travel forums have been flooded with questions form the travellers asking “Is it safe to travel to Turkey or should I cancel my holiday?” It is really important to have a thorough insight of what’s going on in Turkey and where exactly it’s unsafe to go.
People follow the news and this tends to increase the paranoia because of all the politically inspired unrest and highlighted unfortunate incidents that naturally disturb our minds. The peace and quite in major parts of the country and how people continue doing their day-to-day activities is almost never focused in the bulletin.
Istanbul, with a population of more than 12 million, is the city where people carry on with their work and recreational activities and they get to know about the situation only when they watch the news. I wouldn’t say that no demonstrations go on in the country. There sure are but the few hundreds of participants raise slogans peacefully, blow whistles and march across the streets without any sign of tear gas or riots.
It is important to know where you’re planning to go and which places are unsafe for tourists. If the entire country was unsafe then the government of the western countries would have banned the travel but the governments of UK and USA have recommended against the tourism to the southeast of Turkey only and that includes Van, Antakya,Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Van, etc.
Once you arrive Turkey, you’ll experience the normal daily life where you can have a peaceful day at beach, enjoy shopping in the evening; relish the Turkish cuisines at your favorite restaurants and sleep peacefully at night. The trouble that is more than a 1000 kilometers away from you wouldn’t bother you at all during your stay. Of course you need to consider the safety measures that are generally followed irrespective of the place you plan to travel to. Other than southeastern region, Turkey is entirely secure.