Turkey

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | January 11th, 2005 | Trackback

Incidents of pick-pocketing have risen dramatically in the past year, up 23 percent nationwide and 60 percent in Istanbul. Most of these crimes are committed by professionals controlled by mafia groups, but children, some under the age of 10, have been involved in crime. The government reported that some 625,000 children in Istanbul are in danger of becoming street children. As many as 88,000 are estimated to be living on the street and of those, 44 percent are believed addicted to cigarettes or other substances. Belgian and Israeli tourists have been attacked by glue sniffers demanding money, and the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul reported that the locus of pick-pocketing seems to have moved from the Sultan Ahmet tourist center to the business and nightclub area in Taksim in the Beyoglu district. The Consulate further reported that there have been virtually no violent incidents connected with pick-pocketing involving Americans in Istanbul over the past two years.

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