Is it safe to travel in Turkey right now?
This is a fair question with regular news cycles featuring the issues in the countries around Turkey. While the feeling of safety and the reality of safety are not always the same thing, we want to try to speak to you honestly about the reality we and the citizens of this country experience living here everyday. We have lived here as Americans for decades through many different seasons of global conflict, media cycles portraying events in neighboring countries, and direct events affecting Turkey as well.
Here are a few key points we want to share:
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We would never invite or encourage you to travel here if there were legitimate safety concerns for tourists, regardless of the loss to the business. As a reference point, we sometimes suggest that if an American traveler feels comfortable traveling to California or Texas, even when conflicts occur in Central America, then travel to Turkey is similarly safe and buffered from the concerns that exist at times beyond it's borders.
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In the event that the U.S. State Department definitively restricts travel to western Turkey we will refund your trip costs less any direct expenses previously incurred (such as pre booked flights for which we are unable to get full refunds).
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Turkey itself is a NATO member and a strong and stable democracy and economy. It is not an Arab country or in direct alliance with the same foreign policy interests of middle eastern countries in the neighboring region. It is more of an Eastern European country that bridges to western Asia. The politics and foreign policy are not the same as those in Arab and Israeli nations.
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What the media portrays and what the lived reality is on the ground reality are often very different. In all the years of living here, we’ve never been concerned for the safety of ourselves, our children, or any of our many travelers.
Don’t just take our word for it, check out what other experts and friends of ours have to say:
https://turkeytravelplanner.com/is-turkey-safe-to-travel/