Turkey: Is it safe for women travelers?

It’s safe, but do your homework and be cautious.

Turkey: Is it safe for women travelers? (Robert Neubecker / For The Times / June 19, 2011)

By Catharine Hamm Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

June 19, 2011, 5:15 a.m.

Question: I’d like to travel to Istanbul, Izmir and Ephesus, Turkey, with a 78-year-old friend. We are experienced travelers and multilingual, but neither of us knows Turkish. My husband has many reservations about this. What advice do you have that would put my husband at ease?

–B. Snyder, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Answer: Here’s a discussion I had as winter rains began.

Me: I need to get up on the roof and put on these plastic covers on the turbines so water won’t leak into the kitchen and living room.

Him: Please be careful.

Me: What? Like I need to be reminded that if I fall off, you’ll be getting my life insurance? Of course, I’ll be careful. Why would I not be careful?

Him: You don’t have to be snotty about it.

He’s right. I don’t have to be snotty about it, especially because an expression of concern isn’t necessarily a comment on competence or lack of common sense. Preparation is key to comfort — yours and his.

Tom Brosnahan’s TurkeyTravelPlanner.com (which also has good discussion on guidebooks) says this: “Turkey is not only friendly, it’s as safe as Europe and North America, although no place is completely safe.” He says women should follow local customs and be sensitive to attitudes.

That means dressing modestly and, in larger cities, stylishly. But, says Carol Masciola, a former journalist who lives in Turkey with her husband, “You definitely don’t ever have to wear a headscarf, unless you’re visiting a mosque…. If you run around in hot pants with a big cleavage, people will stare at you. If you’re planning to go to the east or the south, where it can be very ‘headscarfy,’ I’d not show a ton of flesh … no shorts or low necklines.”

Won’t you get hassled? Gina Rarick, who trains racing thoroughbreds in France, says of Turkey, “There is a faction of men who will ogle or hassle women. But again, if you just walk on and ignore it, you don’t even notice it after a while…. There can be no reaction whatsoever, even if it’s to say ‘back off,’ because any reaction is seen as provocation.… Bottom line: If staring makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, you won’t be very happy in Istanbul, but you won’t be able to travel in many countries if that bothers you.”

Sarah Celik of New York is married to a Turkish man and visits there often. “From my perspective, the concern for two women traveling alone in Turkey’s touristic Western cities isn’t danger; it’s frustration. And with good planning that can be minimized. I do recommend reaching out for a little help in this country.… Renting a car and driving from one city to another is not easy. As far as driving in the cities … just don’t.”

Celik says language isn’t a barrier, but “it is really appreciated when you make the effort to say simple things in Turkish, like hello, yes, please, thank you and goodbye. You can get a traveler’s language tape at the library or bookstore and easily learn a few words and phrases.”

Anything can be made less dangerous by reading, planning and using common sense, whether it’s Turkey or turbine covers.

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