Tourists can still safely head to Turkey’s most popular holiday resorts and cities while restrictions have been placed in other areas due to unrest.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has only placed a travel warning for all but essential travel to the region of Tunceli in the west part of the country, the south-west areas of Siirt, Harraki and Sirnak and along the borders that cross to Syria and Iraq.
Istanbul remains safe to visit despite a fourth day of protests across 67 cities calling for prime minister Recap Tayyip Erdogan to step down.
Tourists have been told to avoid the demonstrations, which have seen 1,700 people arrested, and warned of a “high threat” of terrorism.
Turkey holiday specialist Anatolian Sky urged tourists and agents to continue visiting the country and “put demonstrations into perspective”.
“The focus of the protests is in and around Taksim Square, which is located on the commercial side of Istanbul around 30 minutes drive from the old city and the major tourist attractions such as the Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque, the Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. To put it in perspective, this is the same distance between London’s Canary Wharf and Trafalgar Square, and as such we do not expect there to be any impact on tourists visiting Istanbul, although, of course, we agree with the foreign office advice that tourists should stay away from the site of the demonstrations,” said Akin Koç, Anatolian’s managing director.
He downplayed the significance of the protests, saying it was natural for the country to see friction as it balances east and west influences. The protests are rallying against Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted ruling, which last week saw the sale and advertising of alcoholic drinks banned between 10pm and 6am.
Koc said he expects demonstrations will ease this week with little or no impact to tourist attractions.
“Turkey is unique in that it straddles both East and West, and has balanced successfully the values of Islam and secular democracy now for almost 100 years. Of course from time to time we should expect some struggles between the two powers in society, but it would be misleading to interpret the recent events as the start of a major new political storm,” said Koç.
“The country has done extremely well in recent years, with a level of growth that is the envy of many European neighbours and developments such as a peace deal with the PKK separatist organisation creating a positive mood and environment for further developing tourism,” he added.