The Real CSI

Several people have asked me has anything exciting happened lately. I would hate to disappoint them; luckily plenty of excitement came Thursday evening. My friend Charléne is visiting from Afghanistan. [Thank you for prayers for her safe arrival.] We’ve been taking our time and seeing the sights of Ankara. Thursday morning we went to Atatürk’s Masoleum and then went with another friend to Real (our Turkish “Wal-mart”) that afternoon. When we returned home at 5:30 pm we discovered that we had been robbed.

In Beth’s room (where Charléne is staying) her jewelry box was dumped on the floor and bed. Charléne’s bag was open on the bed. I quickly looked around and saw that my money was still in my room and it looked like no one had been anywhere except for Beth’s room. They took all of Charléne’s cash that was in her bag. Apparently when robberies happen here, they are very quick and are looking for cash. They didn’t touch our cameras or laptops in the living room, only took her cash.

So one of our Turkish friends came over and called the police. It took them a little while to get here. The first set of police came over, we told them what happened, they took a look around. Next came the forensics officers. They took pictures and fingerprinted the items moved in Beth’s room and took mine and Charléne’s fingerprints (to eliminate any they found). Then we went to the police station to make our statement.

This week with Charléne being here, I have realized how blessed I am to be in Turkey. We have so many luxuries and modern conveniences that Afghanistan is not even close to having. That being said, Turkey is still behind in many aspects in technology. They only had one computer at the station. Most of the reports were handwritten and they used carbon copies, because they don’t have a photocopier. The officer who took our statement typed with two fingers (the hunt and peck method). He had also forgotten his glasses so another officer had to read to him. It was rather amusing. [You have to laugh in these kinds of situations, what else can you do?] Overall, it was a very good experience with the Turkish police. Hopefully, I won’t have to interact with them again soon.

I do want to assure you that I am fine. We had our locks changed today (that was not done when they moved in May). Also there is a dead blot on our lock that we were not using before, but we are now (I didn’t know about it – don’t have to lock your doors in Moneta). There were three robberies that night in Çiğdem, which is unusual. In the ten years our apartment manager has lived here, there had never been a robbery in our building. So don’t worry, I am fine, I still feel very safe. I’m just chalking it up to another grand Turkish adventure. And it’s another reminder that God is in control.