Safety - Part 2

I have spoken before about the terrorism that has plagued Turkey for the last 30 years....these terrorists are mostly centred in the eastern part of the country.  They rarely venture over the Western side...or maybe they do, and we just don't hear about it. I'm not too sure...but the point is, that in the 11 months that I've been here, I haven't felt a threat from the terrorism personally.  While we hear about the attacks on governmental buildings and such in the eastern areas (Kayseri, Diyarbakir, Çukurca, Siirt, and Adana among others) - some of the ones that happen in the western parts of Turkey are less publicized (car bombs in Ankara, Antalya, and Kemer and a highjacked ferry near Istanbul).  All of these acts occurred near military facilities and are generally in areas that are not frequented by tourists or the general public.  However, some happen in areas that are frequented by Turkish citizens.  Since I've been here, there was one bombing early in the morning across the park from our language centre...3 civilians were killed and 30 were injured by the car bomb.  This has been my closest experience with terrorism - although, lucky for me, I was at home at the time of the incident.  Despite this, I can still say with complete honesty that I haven't felt afraid since coming here.

I said yesterday that I use the subway, trains, buses, airplanes (for international and domestic flights), rental cars, and any other type of transportation you can think of (except camels...Turkey doesn't have camels contrary to popular belief) on a daily and monthly basis.  Acts of terrorism don't ever cross my mind when I travel - even as I travel to the eastern parts of Turkey where these incidents are more likely to happen.  The reason for this is simple:  why should I ruin my experience of this country with thoughts of "what if"?  If I wanted to play that game, I could have saved alot of money by staying home and hiding in my house.  That's just my humble opinion....