On my last trip to Istanbul I purchased two very expensive carpets from a man I had done business with a few months before.  I asked him to ship the carpets to my family in the United States and I returned to Kuwait where I was living.  The carpets were never shipped, the man I bought them from will not communicate with me, and my bank in the United States will not give  my money back because they believe him and not me. I live in China now, but am going to Istanbul in December.  Does anyone know what I can do to get my money back?  Can I get help from the police?  I don´t speak very much Turkish and I know nothing about my legal rights there.  What I do know is that the carpet dealer has no proof that he shipped the carpets because he admitted to me on the phone three months ago that he did not ship them, then he laughed. He has not spoken to me or answered my calls or emails since. But he still has my money...

Please, can anyone help? Teþekküler.

if you have a paper which proves that you sent him money and if he has no document about shipment then you can get your money back. and dont worry, police in touristic areas know english well. they will help you

Generalizations are wrong but I can´t help warning everyone here : Never trust a carpet dealer...

Yes, I´ve learned my lesson.  I did business with him last Christmas, bought a nice silk/cotton carpet that was not cheap, but no where near as expensive as the two I bought in April. He shipped the first one right away and I had no problems.  We kept in touch because we have a mutual friend.  So when I bought carpets from him in April, I trusted him. Next time, I will carry my carpets on the plane no matter what size they are!

I am not an expert but my wife and I bought a carpet last month in Kuþadýsa/  The seller filled out the shipment documents in front of us and gave us the confirmation number.   We had no problems.  But caution is advisable.   We had been referred by the owners of the hotel where we were staying and they presumably need happy customers that will say nice things to the booking agengies about them.