A mess in Turkey
Open letter
to tour operators or a story about how the Russians had a rest in Turkey.
In May 2010, I purchased a 10-day tour to the BODRUM HOLIDAY RESORT & SPA hotel in Bodrum, Turkey
Since the agents of travel agencies themselves warn of the need to purchase "Dity Free" when traveling to Asian countries, in Moscow (due to the poor quality of products at airports of holiday destinations), my wife and I purchased goods at Vnukovo airport and, having packed everything in accordance with customs requirements, proceeded to the place of rest.
On June 02.2010, I, like the remaining 79 passengers of the RED WINGS airliner, began to go through customs to board the plane and return from vacation to Russia.
Having put all hand luggage into the screening basket, including packages with “Dity Free” goods, my wife and I passed the “frame”.
Turkish customs officers, seeing the packages, asked for passports to list the contents. We took this process lightly. But our calm was short-lived, because.
when the turn came to the inventory of famous brands of cognac, the eyes of the customs officers lit up with a very familiar devilish light, and all our Dity Free luggage was neatly folded into a cardboard box under the feet of the customs officer.
To my bewildered look and silent question: “Eh ...where are you ....”, I was shown with a gesture where we should go - to the waiting room.
Oshalev from such treatment and impudence, I remembered the whole, then still Soviet school of the English language, and formulated a question to the customs officer about what was happening.
…. They sent it there...
I asked for an interpreter - they sent ....
I said that without my property I would not go to the landing - they sent ....
I demanded a representative of the Russian authorities - they sent ...
I offered to pour all the “Dity Free” into the toilet - they sent it, but realizing that I was in the mood, they resolutely strengthened the security of the confiscated by two more officers.
By the way, for information - what was of little value in their customs understanding was thrown into the box, and my "Dity Free" was neatly folded.
To be correct, I can say that they gave me an advertising booklet in which something was written in Chinese, Arabic, English, German about containers up to 100 ml.
The conversation was about the ban on carrying more than 100 ml of liquids into the cabin of the aircraft. , but then I saw the same Dity Free stores, from which joyful vacationers took out liters of alcohol and bottles of perfume.
Having assessed the situation and not wanting to put up with lawlessness, and this is precisely lawlessness, because:
• "Dity Free" system - international system;
• all products were packaged in accordance with the requirements of the customs clearance system - i. e. sealed Dity Free plastic bags with cash receipts enclosed and free to read,
I clenched my fists and prepared for the assault…. but no luck...
…. Unlucky Turkish customs, because.
I was followed by a string of Russians, just like my wife and I, whose sum of purchases from Dity Free was several times higher than ours.
A wild mess ensued...
The numerical superiority has shifted to our side, vacationers. Fist movements and profanity began in the air, and from both sides (judging by the facial expressions and splashing saliva of customs officers).
To the credit of the Turkish police, they did not intervene in the conflict, considering this problem to be a customs problem.
Realizing that the case smells like an absolutely trivial fight, which will lead to:
• to the complete destruction of the inspection area of the airport in Bodrum;
• breaking jaws, arms, legs, heads of customs officers on various objects around us;
• intervening in the fight of the police and taking all of us to the station;
• showing it all on TV and getting a PR action
• at the end - returning home as heroes (at least in the eyes of the citizens of the Russian Federation),
I was forced to reincarnate from an opponent of the Turkish customs to an intermediary-translator.
Standing in the middle between the parties entangled in the conflict, it was necessary, maneuvering between fists, to shout in broken English to the minds of the officers.
… But their minds were silent, and we were rapidly approaching the beginning of the battle for "Dity Free".
And then I shouted in the ear of the customs officer: "Give me polismen. " On the 5th time he heard me and called the policeman. He slowly, completely abstracting from the customs officers, calmly listened to my incoherent speech, in which I asked to pay attention to our full compliance with the rules for transporting Dity Free products and the need to provide assistance in this situation.
The phrase "Help me, please" was repeated 10 times.
“Ok, 5 min” was the answer of the Turkish policeman and after a couple of minutes he returned with the Russian-speaking employees of the ODEON company, who helped to resolve this conflict.
Russians are treated in Turkey with hostility, if not hatred;
2. Corruption and violations of the law - a disease that officials in Turkey also suffer from (in my presence, our vacationer, who speaks the local language, calmly carried “Dity Free”);
3. A Russian person for his own, and even more so for alcohol, will break what does not break and will turn everyone and everything;
APPEAL to tour operators (especially to CORAL):
Explain to your guides that a vacationer - from whatever country he comes from - is a creature vulnerable to any kind of crime. Therefore, if you have taken money from us, then work it out to the fullest - with escort to the customs control zone and passage to the waiting room.
Sincerely, Kochetkov Andrey Anatolyevich
P. S. As for this story, the foreigners who followed us also got into the same situation. By the way, they did not achieve their goal and lost their property.
…. And we defended ours! Takes pride!