GUILTY Turkey - Sarai Sierra, 33, NY woman murdered, Istanbul, 21 Jan 2013 - #2

[ToutCa]

Originally Posted by ThinkHard
I don't know if you legally do. BUT in my experience police expect you too.

Also I had a copy of it on me and they just tore it up. It wasnt till I started crying and rambling in English did they believe I was American.

They did eat all my tic tacs though....bastards

Finally we are getting somewhere. Turkish cops can be bribed with Tic Tacs.

Link this up with Yashim's comment the other day that if you want to repel the opposite sex, just partake in traditional Turkish cuisine laden in garlic and onions....

When Taylan was detained, did he cook the cops a meal and then offer them up free cases of tic tacs???????

 

[Yellow]

To the part about her being raped in the shop, I'm going to say the chances of that are a big 0. They may be pushy but they want your money, they don't rape people in the back of their shops.

And considering the cheapest carpet you can buy is at least 200 US dollars for a 3x5 all wool killim.......and a slightly larger size 100% silk carpet is more like 2000, with her limited funds I doubt she would be in the market for a carpet.

I didn't think SS was going to buy a carpet (although maybe a very small one) but most tourists to Turkey go in and look (and then find out how expensive the carpets are). In my experience in Turkey, the store often does a little presentation, showing how they make the carpets, they give you tea, etc, then they bring a bunch of carpets to show. They really want to sell the carpets.

There was speculation last night about a carpet salesman being involved, and her having some kind of business card so my earlier post was in reference to how she could have been in contact w a carpet salesman to begin with...I agree, extremely unlikely she would be attacked in a store, but if a carpet salesman were involved, how else would she have met him unless she went in a store or he approached her on the street (or alternatively, she was corresponding w someone whose profession turned out to be carpet salesman and that is why it is being mentioned). And why would a random carpet salesman kill her? He would have to be crazy and the only reasons would be rape or money...

Not sure if we know anything more about this carpet salesman speculation....

 

[lavy]

I didn't think SS was going to buy a carpet (although maybe a very small one) but most tourists to Turkey go in and look (and then find out how expensive the carpets are). In my experience in Turkey, the store often does a little presentation, showing how they make the carpets, they give you tea, etc, then they bring a bunch of carpets to show. They really want to sell the carpets.

There was speculation last night about a carpet salesman being involved, and her having some kind of business card so my earlier post was in reference to how she could have been in contact w a carpet salesman to begin with...I agree, extremely unlikely she would be attacked in a store, but if a carpet salesman were involved, how else would she have met him unless she went in a store or he approached her on the street (or alternatively, she was corresponding w someone whose profession turned out to be carpet salesman and that is why it is being mentioned). And why would a random carpet salesman kill her? He would have to be crazy and the only reasons would be rape or money...

Not sure if we know anything more about this carpet salesman speculation....

Agreed. Also it is 99.9999% impossible that he could take her out from the store and take her to the walls without being seen.

 

[Yashim]

When I was studying in Edinburgh, an Italian friend of mine invited me to visit her hometown, Genoa. I told her I couldn't go because I didn't want to go through the ordeal of getting a visa from the Italian Consulate. She said "you don't need a visa, you're coming with me." :floorlaugh:

Being an EU citizen, poor thing never needed a visa for any country in her life and assumed it'd be the same for Turks. :furious:

Carrying photocopies of passports suggest a similar level of naivety.

 

[ToutCa]

Finally, that's a lot, ThinkHard. I was almost stoned to death when I was trying to emphasize this. We have lived with terrorism for so long... Standards are different in Turkey. By Turkish standard for a photocopy to be valid abroad, say in the US, it has to be translated into English by a certified translator. Then both document (original and translation) are notarized. Then you take it to the Governor (of Istanbul) which acknowledges the Notary Public, then that document with 10s of stamps on it goes to the US Consulate. After approved by the Consulate, the photocopy becomes valid in the US. And then you take it to the US, they look at it as if it is an historic manuscript, trying the figure out what the stamps are for.

Yashim we can agree with you it's a pretty good idea to carry your passport as an American in Istanbul. As ThinkHard pointed out, there are solid arguments for women to do so...

But we're just saying, wise or not, it's common practice for Americans not to carry passports in Istanbul.

The US Dept of State recommends you NOT carry your US passport in Turkey. I didn't when I was there.

All we're saying is that it's not weird or suspect that SS was not carrying her passport.

 

[ThinkHard]

:floorlaugh: Please note that I prefer NY Daily News



Plants were needed for work related things....I'm not giving out much do I? They are not drug related stuff. (or maybe I found another type who knows)

Salt is just I keep forgetting to take it out from my bag and stupidly carrying it with me last few days.



:floorlaugh::floorlaugh:

Turkish websites doesn't mention it but travel advice websites insist on carrying photocopy of your passport.

Yes and I followed that advice...but experienced proved the opposite...so I'm gonna trust experience here.

 

[ToutCa]

When I was studying in Edinburgh, an Italian friend of mine invited me to visit her hometown, Genoa. I told her I couldn't go because I didn't want to go through the ordeal of getting a visa from the Italian Consulate. She said "you don't need a visa, you're coming with me." :floorlaugh:

Being an EU citizen, poor thing never needed a visa for any country in her life and assumed it'd be the same for Turks. :furious:

Carrying photocopies of passports suggest a similar level of naivety.

Sorry, Yashim, I completely disagree with this.

I would never naively assume I could bring non-American citizens with impunity into my country.

And it's not naiveté to not carry a passport in Turkey. It is the practice of many sophisticated international American travelers there (like me). It is the practice recommended by the US Dept of State officially.

And it's what SS did. It was NOT naive and NOT unusual.

That said, I have no idea why she didn't carry it. Maybe she read the US Dept of State recommendation. Maybe some pontificating jerk like me told her she shouldn't carry it. Who knows?

But it's definitely not a sign of her naiveté or shadiness. It's not a sign of much of anything. We don't know her motives.

 

[lavy]

When I was studying in Edinburgh, an Italian friend of mine invited me to visit her hometown, Genoa. I told her I couldn't go because I didn't want to go through the ordeal of getting a visa from the Italian Consulate. She said "you don't need a visa, you're coming with me." :floorlaugh:

Being an EU citizen, poor thing never needed a visa for any country in her life and assumed it'd be the same for Turks. :furious:

Carrying photocopies of passports suggest a similar level of naivety.

:floorlaugh:

That reminds me a friend asking if she needs a visa to cross the Bosphorus

-We really need some new info.

 

[Yashim]

Yashim we can agree with you it's a pretty good idea to carry your passport as an American in Istanbul. As ThinkHard pointed out, there are solid arguments for women to do so...

But we're just saying, wise or not, it's common practice for Americans not to carry passports in Istanbul.

The US Dept of State recommends you NOT carry your US passport in Turkey. I didn't when I was there.

All we're saying is that it's not weird or suspect that SS was not carrying her passport.

I get that. But what US Department of State is trying to do is to aviod the cost of printing a new passport in case an American loses it (I mean the passport).

Sound advice on what to avoid in Istanbul would have been more useful for SS than the passport advice.

 

[ToutCa]

:floorlaugh:

That reminds me a friend asking if she needs a visa to cross the Bosphorus

-We really need some new info.

Why is the Turkish media so quiet?

Is it an old story now? Or do you think a bomb will drop in the next few days?

 

[looking4answers]

At least we know the info they get from this forum is likely to be more accurate than what they're coming up with from their own sources. I predict we'll start seeing media reports citing "anonymous sources" that are direct quotes from our threads.

So we are reading the "news" to try to get some ideas on what is going on, we talk about it, add some random facts we find on social networks, and then some of the "news" is reading us and updating their reporting? Sounds like an incestuous circle of guessing. :waitasec:

 

[ThinkHard]

When I was studying in Edinburgh, an Italian friend of mine invited me to visit her hometown, Genoa. I told her I couldn't go because I didn't want to go through the ordeal of getting a visa from the Italian Consulate. She said "you don't need a visa, you're coming with me." :floorlaugh:

Being an EU citizen, poor thing never needed a visa for any country in her life and assumed it'd be the same for Turks. :furious:

Carrying photocopies of passports suggest a similar level of naivety.

I think about the only place Turks can go without a visa, where Americans actually need one is Russia.

Gosh is there really nothing new in this case to discuss?

 

[bellyup]

Why is the Turkish media so quiet?

Is it an old story now? Or do you think a bomb will drop in the next few days?

Sadly, I think they don't have any clue what happened. :banghead:

 

[ToutCa]

I get that. But what US Department of State is trying to do is to aviod the cost of printing a new passport in case an American loses it (I mean the passport).

Sound advice on what to avoid in Istanbul would have been more useful for SS than the passport advice.

First statement: FALSE -- there ARE plenty of countries the US
Dept of State recommends you have your passport with you at all times.
The recommendations to carry or not to carry are country-specific.

Second statement: TRUE -- Man, here I couldn't agree with you more!!!

 

[ToutCa]

So we are reading the "news" to try to get some ideas on what is going on, we talk about it, add some random facts we find on social networks, and then some of the "news" is reading us and updating their reporting? Sounds like an incestuous circle of guessing. :waitasec:

We're also trying to be witty and amusing, which shows you how desperate we are getting...

 

[lavy]

Why is the Turkish media so quiet?

Is it an old story now? Or do you think a bomb will drop in the next few days?

I am definitely expecting a bomb to drop.

Media seems to be very busy today, lots of crazy things are happening. For example cargo vessel hit to a ferry 2 hours ago :what:

 

[ThinkHard]

Yashim we can agree with you it's a pretty good idea to carry your passport as an American in Istanbul. As ThinkHard pointed out, there are solid arguments for women to do so...

But we're just saying, wise or not, it's common practice for Americans not to carry passports in Istanbul.

The US Dept of State recommends you NOT carry your US passport in Turkey. I didn't when I was there.

All we're saying is that it's not weird or suspect that SS was not carrying her passport.

Well summarized.

Even though I would recommend carrying one in Istanbul....I still had to learn this the hard way. And fully admit most Americans would not be carrying one.

 

[ToutCa]

Gosh is there really nothing knew in this case to discuss?

Um. . .who has a new theory on what happened to SS?????

 

[Yellow]

Agreed. Also it is 99.9999% impossible that he could take her out from the store and take her to the walls without being seen.

I agree it would be highly unlikely it is a random carpet person. There was speculation the carpet salesman being a new suspect last night and I am not sure how that could have happened...unless it is just the case that whoever this new suspect is happens to be a carpet salesman.

(Though almost certainly not applicable here, You see it in movies all the time how easy it is to transport a body as a carpet. You carry the body out as if it were a carpet. So getting it out of the carpet store would be fairly easy, I think, and would nor arouse suspicion. Dumping it would be another issue though.. In any event I think that scenario would be eliminated bc she would have carpet fibers).

Is it the case that we can eliminate any kind of dumping altogether bc it is just too visible an area? Can we say for sure she was killed on site?

 

[lavy]

Sadly, I think they don't have any clue what happened. :banghead:

True but that haven't stopped them before.

Um. . .who has a new theory on what happened to SS?????

There must be things that we haven't consider before.

What do you thing about my bag snatcher theory?