Hi,
Just when my parents decided to give me permission to go to Izmir at the end of next month (18-26 february), the birdflu filled all the newspapers.

Can anyone (preferable inhabitant of turkey) tell me how serious it is? Russia and UK have gave a negative-travel-advice, but Germany on the other hand says it's safe and Holland says you can go but dont eat bird and stay away from bird-farms etc.

Is there danger for me to go to Izmir? For myself, i dont think there is. It's mostly in the east of turkey, and where it is in the west, it's Istanbul, a big, filthy city that's hard to keep in control. So in my opinion Izmir is safer. Or am i shortsighted here?

I dont feel fear to go, but i juts like to know from others and hear arguments to convince my old folks

Thanks!

Well, i live in Greece and the media here are getting a little crazy with this subject. But still, they say that it is safe to visit Turkey, as long as you stay away from birds and eggs.
I also believe so. And in fact, bird flue hasn't made me change my plans to visit Istanbul this February.

Oh cool I will tell that, because we have family and friends in greece too

Yeah i think Greece is more crazy about it than us, because its so much closer.

I'm just a little scared that they won't let me go.. otherwise we will have to wait till summer!!

REACTIONS FROM TURKISH PEOPLE PLEASE

HERE IS NO PROBLEM.

NO BIG PROBLEM.

the organization of Health and Social Services of world say:
YOU CAN GO TO TURKEY! THERE IS NO BIG PROBLEM!

and the organization got angry to other countries and media.

YES..
I LIVE IN ANKARA AND ISTANBUL...
EVERYBODY WHO WANTS TO COME TURKEY CAN COME!!

DON'T WORRY ABOUT HEALTH AND BIRD FLU...

Someone has told me they have cancelled their holiday to Turkey - and it wasn't until the end of June !!??

I hope it will be ended...

heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
my friendsssss....

YOU CAN COME TO TURKEY WHEN YOU WANT!

DON'T CANCEL YOUR TRAVEL!!!

Yes but this is what i mean.. does turkey try to convince others there isn't danger, in order not to loose their summer-incomes?

i work in a travel agents and we are still booking ppl to go to turkiye. ird flu is not transmitted from human to human. and the ppl that have got it have been playign withthe chickens that have it hence they caught it. what we going to do if we get it in our countries move out of it!!!! dont think so. lets just all hope it clears up soon and the hype will stop

I wont eat chicken and egg..We must true and people must not come to Turkey for a month I think..We have to wait and see what will happen..There is still a risk,truly...

thats ok then because i am comuing to istanbul in april
and then again to agean sea in august

Everybody must wait for a month..just a month..its not big problem nowadays but government have to solve this..Government is working on about this subjects..Risk is risk in everywhere...

Ok, a month you say.. my trip is planned 5 weeks ahead, so i think i can go?

evet freshman bununle anlasiyorum

You can say I am agree on this subject=Bu konuda seninle aynı fikirdeyim...

diseases are all important and we should be careful,we shouldnt haste and exaggerate..now everything seems to be ok..we turks like sansation and to exaggerate ..i think dis is a kind of biological attack to turkiye...

YOU CAN COME TO TURKEY WHEN YOU WANT!!!
YES...
THERE IS NO BIG PROBLEM IN TURKEY
NOONE WAIT FOR A SECOND TO COME TO TURKEY.
NO A MOUTH, MO A SECOND...
YOU CAN COME TO TURKEY WHEN YOU WANT!!!

I think someone here likes tourists

Lello...
Ofcourse if there is no problem = NO PROBLEM.

TURKES DOESN'T HAS A PROBLEM ABOUT VISITING...

Hehe i got the point

Lello, come when you want...

Come and see with your own eye...
John..
Ofcourse..
Come and see with your own eye...

Serhat my friend... you really did a very good convincing. I am coming sometime in the summer...hehehe..

pay more cautions to birds, esp. chickens.
e.g. dun touch them with bear hands, wash hands thoroughly after touching
i think ppl should beware of the birds and have good personal cares and protections...need not to fear much~
me 2... i will go to turkey in this summer, but i fear nothing... haha~ cos i m from a more dangerous city...HONG KONG~

Can bird flu be dangeorus to gentlemen above 60?

We bukbuk istanbul buk month buk nobuk happened buk us, so, buk wonder buk all buk fuss bukbuk.

buk care. :-S

The problem is with my memory, at this old age. When it comes to birds, I tend to forget all necessary precautions.

WEIRD!

Bird flue has reached to Turkey from Far East.. But somehow the birds didnt visit other countries till they arrive in Turkey. Isnt it weird? As I know Turkey is not an isolated island. And the birds cant stay in the same place for a long.
Then does that mean; Other countries (Georgia, Russia, Armenia, Iran, ...,Bulgaria, Romania, Greece) hide the disease ? I am confused about it

Here is the good news Rick,

The only current half decent medicine against birdflu is commercially called TAMIFLU and is produced by a US company called GILEAD.

Mr. Donald Rumsfeld is the biggest share holder of GILEAD.

Very conforting to know, no?
If you want to be even more conforted, check what GILEAD means.

OOPS!

Now it s going to be more weird! The starting point of this disease was China as i know and China is the greatest threat for The US and Mr Rumsfeld... Hmmm Somebody doesnt like chickens in this earth i guess

Personally I am not frightened by Bird Flu. I will still be going to Turkey.

I would like to point out, I know a Chinese woman and when it was an epidemic in China 2-3 years ago she planned to go and see her family.

The planes were inhibited from travelling U.K. to China in fear of bringing the disease back to here.

She waited for months until she was allowed to go back and it was safe as a destination.

I guess birds, chickens and all winged spicies should be afraid of the bird flue for the time being. What a cruel world isnt it? They have invented a vaccination for humans but nobody cares for the rest of the species yet.
Does anyone feel sorry about the killed winged species? Well i hope i am not the only one who cares those beautiful species.

Thank youu !! i m very enlighted now! so i can sleep tonight oh finally sweet dreams again

Hahaha i heard that it's going better in Turkey with the birdflu tho? So.. sana tatli rüyalar dillerim, Memet!

i myself have just come back from spending a week in Istanbul and I'm fine. As long as you don't eat bird or eggs you will be fine. Obviously don't visit any bird farms either.

My boyfriend lives in Izmir, it is perfectly safe to visit.

Compared to the amount of people who live in Turkey, very few have been effected by bird flu, the ones who have are mainly children living on bird farms.

My boyfriend lives in Malatya in eastern turkey and he doesn't seem really scared or something. As he says, what can we do?
He doesn't have any contacts with birds, especially the dead ones (don't forget that children who died, were palying with dead chickens, and that we are talking about the very eastern part of turkey, about little city Dogubeyazit, near to eastern borders of Turkey).

So don't panic! Istanbul, Izmir or Antalya is much farer from the birdsflu than I am from it (there were also cases of illness in Ukraina, which is problably closer to my Krakow than Dogubeyazit to Izmir)

Do you think european media has caused some sort of media-hype about this? Or is Turkey trying to hide it?

Since i started loving Turkey, i doubt Europe much more than before, tho i've lived here socially secure for 18 years!

EEVRYDAY 9000+ PEOPLE DIE COZ OF CIGARETTE... OK TIME TO ERASE THIS POST NOW

well...i m one of those people who will keep smoking and visiting turkey. Silly? Kimbilir?

Yes but im sure you will try to teach your daughter not to smoke..

Hehe I'm not scared about birflue, it's just annem who needs to be convinced!!! She smokes too!! (if that's of any help )

I guess until there is a mutation of the virus which can be passed on from human to human there's no need to panic. At least I haven't cancelled my travel arrangements because of it. Actually I fear the weather in February more than the bird flu. Oh, and I do intend to smoke there

I think we need to get this bird flu thing in perspective. What we have here is a huge country with a population of 80 million give or take a few zillion and only a handful of people have died from the desease.

Less people than contracted BSE in the UK , less people who died from salmonella poisoning in the UK! and we all still eat eggs and beef and no one stopped coming here once the media interest died down.

Get a grip here people! I'm off to Izmir on Tuesday and I haven't given bird flu a thought!

See you there Deli Kiz!

Amazin!


Yes but you haven't got parents stopping you Tho.. they say everything is possible in Holland and im 18 now..

Maybe i should consider to go without permission (but the last time i did that, it caused me lots of trouble with parents and at school )

and there is no way that you can convince your parents? Maybe you can let them to make a call to the dutch SGR or ANVR? They can reassure your parents that its still ok to travel?

Statistically speaking, the safest way to travel to Türkiye now is to take along a friend who is already infected with birdflu.

Your chances of meeting with an infected Turk is already small, but the probability of you being in the company of two infected persons, at the same time, is almost zero.

See, science solves all problems.

deli-kizin the safest way travelling is being with ur bf(for u)bcos he can make u fly and he can save u if any danger appears...and mmm im worrying about these wingsi think u should disinfect urselfhav nice time...and fly much

Hahahah Thanks

your all deli,if you ask me! I am going to Turkey in July and no bird is gonna stop me! I don't exactly plan on spending alot of time with live birds (non to be exact) so i am not going to catch anything.The media just love to give all this hype to the issue.The foreign office aren't saying don't go,so i am still going!

Whaha i must admit that sounds a bit sick but yeah, i'll be safe and warm Finally.. gosh i still can't believe i will go so soon!!

The 8 months we didn't see eachother suddenly seem shorter than the 15 days we have to wait now!

I am just so excited about going back.I think all this bird flu stuff has been taken way over the top and hyped up totally.BTW thanks Ramayan for telling me bravo,well done lol thats a new one for me.
Anyway its about 5 months give or take a week either side until i go to Turkey and it can't come round soon enough! I booked in November and have been paying it off steadily since then.I only owe £13 now then thats the whole thing payed off and i have to start saving for spending money lol i am going for 3 weeks so need lots of Raki money! Hope you all have a fantastic holiday (or what ever you go for) the next time u go to turkey and if your already there you don't know how lucky you are,i am jealous!

so i think everybody should care their own birds hhehehe

I think that it is safe for you to travel there, honestly i think that the whole "bird flu" thing has been blown out of proportion.

I have been there since it was in the news, and while there it didnt seem like much of an issue.

Also i believe that while you are there to eat chicken is safe as there are so many checks on it there now and they wouldn't let you to eat meat that was infected with the virus.
Isn't it only sick birds which catch the virus.

I don't know if this information is useful or if anybody agree's.
This is just my opinion.

hey just offer them a serviette when u see a bird got flu...heheh no need to worry so much....i did dis and look still alive