Турецкое гостеприимство Turkish hospitality

I, Nadezhda, rested in Turkey in the city of Kemer, the village of Goynyk from 03.09 to 15.09. 2005 at the CLUB SIESTA GARDEN hotel with her friend Nina and her daughter Alla. On Friday 09.09 after lunch we decided to go to the market with a local young man, Kadir, whom we met in a carpet shop. He promised to show where you can buy good gifts, souvenirs for our relatives and friends. I especially wanted to buy real Turkish fruit tea, which we were treated to by the locals, and which we really liked. But Kadir said that it is better to buy tea not at the bazaar, but at the supermarket, so on the way back to the hotel we went to the only supermarket in our village, AFRA. I took a pack of tea and a $9 can of olive oil, went to the cash register and paid with a $100 bill. The cashier took the money, and saying something in Turkish, left in an incomprehensible direction. As we understood, in order to check the money. She was gone for 10 minutes.
During this time, my friend managed to pay for her goods at another checkout, go outside, buy ice cream for the child, and return. And she wasn't there. We started to worry. In the end, she appeared, very cheerful, pleased and handed me a completely different bill: crumpled, covered with some kind of signs, with the words "This is a fake. " I was shocked. She began to resent, saying that it was not my money, that mine was clean, new, not even wrinkled, not to mention the inscriptions on it. But she was impregnable and stood her ground. Then we demanded to be taken to the store manager and they already tried to explain to him that this is not my banknote, that in Ukraine, unlike Turkey, dollars and other foreign currencies do not circulate freely. We can't come to the store and pay with dollars. Only national currency - hryvnia. Therefore, I changed all the money only in the bank and they are all real.
But the conversation with the manager didn’t work out either: he didn’t understand either Russian or English, which we speak fluently. Or they just didn't want to understand. Then we asked to scroll through the video camera that was in his office, but he refused, saying that there was no “review” function. There was no device for checking money in his cabin either. I wonder where she went to check the money and with what? When we realized that they were trying to cheat us out of the blue, we asked Kadir to call the police, which he did. The police arrived 10 minutes later, took the signed banknote, put us 4 in the car (me, Nina, her daughter and Kadira) and took us to the police station. The manager and the cashier arrived much later in their car. At the police station, they were first interrogated, then Kadir, and lastly us. If you can call it an interrogation. Since we were not provided with an interpreter.

We had to explain on our fingers to the soldier, who, as he said, seemed to understand us, but he could not translate and say anything plainly in Russian. We told the situation, they typed our story in Turkish on a computer, printed it out and asked us to sign the testimony, which we did out of the kindness of our hearts. But we did not lose heart, because we were in the police station and naively hoped for justice, for the fact that "the police protect us. " Then we were taken to a hotel and my passport was taken away from me, as I did not resist, explaining that this is the only document that confirms that I am a citizen of Ukraine and I am in a foreign country on vacation. But I was assured that they have every right to do so, that everything will be fine, that on Monday 12.09 I will be taken to Kemer, where the trial will take place, after which they will give me my passport. The senior in rank asked us to be ready by 07.30 am on 12.09. Nina and I asked:
- “Will we have time to decide everything before 10 am, since we have bought an excursion to Aqualand. Or are we better off taking the money? ” To which they gave a positive answer and left.
For two days, Saturday and Sunday, I was in suspense. I'm in a foreign country, without documents, anything you want can happen to me. I was scared.
On Monday 12.09, as we were asked, we arrived at the reception by 07.30 in the morning. But no one came for us on time, as promised. Without breakfast, my friend and I waited until 09 am, when the police appeared. We realized that no one would have time in Aqualand, but they promised us to return the money, that they would contact the tour desk where we bought the tour. Which, in the end, they didn't either.
We were taken to the police station, where we sat stupidly for about an hour, though under supervision. Then we went to the bank for a counterfeit bill, then back to the police station. And all this happened without explanation: where, why, why, what awaits us?
Only by 13 o'clock in the afternoon we got to the court of Kemer. Neither the supermarket manager nor the cashier came to court. They just didn't exist. When I asked: “Where are they? What kind of court is this without everyone involved in this case? I was told that they would be dealt with later, they are local, and you are leaving soon.
I was taken to an office where there was already a man, as I understood the judge, because he was wearing a robe; a young girl (as I also found out later, already on the way to Antalya), this was my lawyer, who did not even deign to come up to me, introduce himself; and all the same "soldier-translator". The judge and the girl talked to each other in Turkish and sentenced me:
- “You are under arrest, you will be taken to Antalya, where you will spend the night in an “apartment”. And tomorrow there will be a high court after which you will be released. ” - so the soldier translated me.

I was confused: why? what is the highest court? which one is arrested? I'm not to blame for anything! But they didn't even listen to me.
We were put in a car and brought to the hotel for my things. Already at the hotel, I asked our guide to translate and tell the police correctly what happened to me, but it was too late, the verdict was passed. Semih, our guide, called the regional manager of the travel company TEZ-TOUR, from which we went to Turkey. He quickly arrived and began extorting $500 from me. Showed the phone number of the judge, who will solve my problem in 10 days. I said: “guys, what 10 days, I have a plane in 2 days; what $500, where can I get them, I've already been cheated out of $100; what a prison, I'm not guilty of anything. But they didn't care, they didn't care. They just tossed me around like a blind kitten.
I went to collect my things. I had a policeman with me all the time: in the corridor of the hotel, while I was packing my suitcase. I was escorted under escort through the territory of the hotel, like some kind of criminal.
It was terribly embarrassing in front of the people resting in our hotel; I felt humiliated, dirty, I was ashamed. The policemen were probably afraid that I would run away. But where, why, without documents? I am a simple girl, I came to Turkey for only 12 days on vacation: to relax, lie in the sun, swim, see the sights, go on excursions. And this is what a nightmare.
In general, they put me in a car and took me to the city of Antalya to a real prison, and not to an apartment, as the soldier translated for me. There was already an interpreter in the car with me, which was provided to me by the regional manager of TEZ-TOUR. He reassured me, saying that I had nothing to fear, that they believed in my innocence, I had a lot of advantages.

Firstly, the cashier checked the money not in my presence; secondly, she was absent for 10 minutes; third, they checked my rest of the money, they were ok; fourthly, dollars do not circulate freely in our country; Fifth, we ourselves called the police. He inspired me with confidence that I would be released the next day, on Tuesday. He even told me how to get from the prison in Kemer to the hotel. And laughter and sin.
We arrived at the prison around four in the afternoon. And this is where the real nightmare began. All my belongings were checked using X-ray television equipment, and then they also carried out a physical search of things. They did the same with me. Then, having taken away all the things I needed: a toothbrush, paste, toilet paper, and other hygiene items, they took me to the cell. It was very scary: in addition to me, there were 13 other Turkish women in the cell, of different ages, who were arrested for God knows what. I didn’t know what to expect from them, what they were sitting for.
I just lay down on the bed that was given to me and lay quietly. In the evening, when I was already falling asleep, I heard a strong sound, like something fell. Then there were screams, crying, hysteria, fainting. It turns out that one of the prisoners threw another girl down the stairs, from the second floor. I was very scared, I thought that my heart would burst out of my chest. I was afraid that they would simply point the finger at me and say: she did it. All night I did not close my eyes, I lay, shaking with fear and praying.
The next day, Tuesday 13.09, was the longest day of my life. Because I've been waiting. I expected that they would come for me, that they would come to me, that they would let me go, as promised. But they didn't keep their promise, again. I didn't know if my family knew about me, what happened to me, where I was; I was worried about my mother, for her sick heart.

Already in the evening, one of the girls, who spoke a little English and knew a few words in Russian, explained to me that everything that the police and the interpreter told me was a lie, they tell everyone that. The trial will take place only in a month and that we must rely only on ourselves. In the evening she wrote me two statements addressed to the head of the prison. One for permission to call the Ukrainian embassy, ​ ​ the other for permission to exchange my money for Turkish lira in order to buy a phone card, hygiene items and food I need (because during the three days I spent in prison, I was not fed I only drank water). In the morning at the construction, I gave applications and again began to wait. By lunchtime, having learned that the card would be brought to me only after 3-4 days, having lost all my patience, I turned to the girls for help, asking them for a phone card to call the Ukrainian embassy.
And at about 4-5 pm, I got through to the Ukrainian consul, who said that they knew about me and were dealing with my case. After talking with him, I burst into tears from happiness, from the knowledge that I had not been abandoned, that my parents know where I am, and it doesn’t matter if I leave on my own flight or not, but they will get me out of prison. At the evening assembly, they told me to pack my things, they let me out. They released me around 10 pm. I was taken out of the prison, where my friend Nina and representatives of TEZ-TOUR met me, who ran after they were pressured from above. But they didn’t take me back to the hotel, but took me to a boarding house under the police, where they again went through the same procedure of inspecting my things. A friend bought me something to eat: 2 apples, 2 small packets of juice and a chocolate bar, and they took me to Kemer.
The next morning I had a plane at 10.35 am.
I was very afraid not to be in time, because I was first taken to the police for processing some papers. Then we went back to the prison for my things, because in the evening, when they let me go, the storekeeper was gone, and my things were not returned to me. Then back to the police. And only about 10 days you rushed to the airport. In general, I managed to get on my plane.
Already on the bus on the platform, I met a friend and her daughter. It turns out that she was also not sweet all that time. In addition to the fact that she did not know where I was and what happened to me, our hotel went bankrupt. But people continued to be settled and then transported, and those who had a few days left to leave were simply taken to other hotels for dinner. The last night, a friend with her daughter spent the night in a store near Kadir, since all the staff left the hotel, the electricity was turned off in it, and direct looting began. It was scary to stay with a child.
That was the rest.

Thanks to the travel agency TEZ-TOUR, which did not care about its customers, which sent us to a bankrupt hotel, which gave the wrong phone number to our consulate in Turkey, which, upon returning home, did not even want to talk to us, calling us counterfeiters.
Thanks to my girlfriend, parents and all those who pulled me out of hell.
Time passed, I calmed down, restored my health a little, after the emotional stress I had endured and the blatant injustice.
So everything is fine, everything is already behind.