Turkey tourism under threat from terrorism and tour operator collapse News Editor
With record numbers of tourists expected to holiday in Turkey this year new threats may curtail this boom with reports that the PKK, a Kurdish terrorist group will be targeting tourist resorts in Turkey during the summer.
Reports from inside Turkey have confirmed that the talks between the PKK and the Turkish government have broken down, without agreement, and the year-long cease-fire is now obsolete. Major Turkish cities will now be the target for the PKK, with British tourists warned against travel to the south-east of Turkey, only for "essential reasons".
The Foreign Office issued the following statement to all British tourists intending to go to Turkey:
"There is a high threat from terrorism in Turkey and a number of terrorist groups remain active in the country.
Terrorist attacks are regularly carried out against the security forces in the south east of the country by the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Attacks consist of IED's and armed assaults and are carried out in both urban and rural areas. There are also occasional occurrences of violent public disorder in the region. The main provinces affected by PKK attacks are Hakkari, Sirnak, Siirt and Tunceli. There is a high level of security activity in these provinces and you risk arrest if you fail to comply with restrictions. We advise against all but essential travel to these areas. There is also a significant level of PKK activity elsewhere in the south east of the country (Van, Bitlis, Bingol, Elazig, Mus, Batman, Erzincan, Diyarbakir, Mardin and Agri). Vigilance is advised when travelling in these areas."
The collapse of Turkish our operator Goldtrail which was one of the UK's largest independent tour operators specialising in Turkey has seen thousands of British tourists stranded in Turkey, with Globetrails boss Abdulkadir Aydin fleeing to his native Turkey according to reports in the Daily Mirror today.
Globetrail has meant that about 16,000 tourists are now stranded in hotels across the Eastern Mediterranean, while about 2,000 people due to jet off over the weekend only learned holidays were lost after checking in for flights. In total some 50,000 people will suffer.
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