We woke up not too early and not too late (and I think I even woke up before our hosts did). We sat in the kitchen and talked with them after they woke up. I asked about their family, and he explained to me that they were all family and all related. If I spoke more Turkish, I probably could have gotten a lot more out of that conversation. At around noon they wanted to take us to breakfast. They told us they would put our things in the otogar for us so that we could pick them up later. At this point we felt a little awkward because one of the Kurdish guys was interested in one of the girls in our group and we thought he might have been a bit disappointed because he didn’t get what he wanted (also we think one reason they were so nice to us may have been because he was interested in her). For whatever reason, it seemed like it was time for us to go before we overstayed our welcome. They took us into town but could not find a parking place at the breakfast place they wanted. Because they didn’t try so hard, it was an indication to me that our time with them finished. When we left the car, we thanked them profusely.
We walked in the market and found a random traditional kebab place to eat. At lunch we were discussing the previous night, still trying to let it all sink in. We were a bit relieved to be on our own though. We at least got to make our own decisions again about what we could do and what we could see.
After eating, we headed down to find the Balıklı Göl, which literally translates as “Fishy Lake.” We first stopped off at a local salesman and each bought traditional Kurdish and Arabic headscarves. After we took pictures with our souvenirs, we made our way down to the lake. The lake, set inside a mosque is known for the copious amounts of carp in its waters. It is also famous biblically. Abraham was against the authority of King Nemrut and the King decided to throw him into the fire to show everybody that he was stronger and must be obeyed. But on the day of execution, when Abraham was thrown from the castle, the fire turned into water and the woods burning turned into fish. It also happened to be a very pretty lake, with a nice park around it (probably once upon a time serving as some desert oasis). Around the lake, there were also plenty of shops to buy souvenirs, but they were a bit expensive. The girl of course went shopping while I watched.
After the lake, we walked a short distance to Urfa Kale. This was an ancient fortress that used to defend Urfa on its highest point in the city. We climbed to the top to see it and enjoyed some amazing views of the city. Not too much of the fortress was preserved (no doubt it was built and destroyed many times in the city’s long history). To descend from the fortress, instead of going the way you came, we went down an ancient tunnel built in the rock by former inhabitants of Urfa. It was a small and narrow tunnel, probably making it easy for inhabitants to sneak down but very difficult for attackers to come up into the fortress.
We were unsure of where we were going to go, but then decided we wanted to see Harran. Harran is a place about 30 miles (45km) south of Urfa. The town is known as a tourist attraction for its large fortress that was built there and its mud that are still occupied by the locals to this day. After we had just decided our plan of action, Elif’s phone rang and it was our friends from last night (specifically the second in command leader himself). He asked us what we had done in Urfa and what our plans were for the rest of the day. We told him that we were going to go to the bus station and take a dolmuş to Harran.
He then said that the dolmuş would take too long and it would be difficult and then said that he was sending his personal driver to come pick us up. Wow! I guess we had not worn out our welcome just yet. So his driver picks us up and takes us to his office where we sit with him and have tea. Afterwards, we squeeze into the back of his car and we are taken the 45 minute drive this city. Once we get there, he pays our admission ticket. The driver walks around the site with us while the second in command guy sits in the car and waits for us. The fortress was really neat and there were two stories. One thing I really love about Turkey (as mentioned previously) is that you can climb around on the ruins. Overall it was a pretty impressive structure. We also met a high schooler who was giving tours and took our contact information because he wanted to practice his English. I never heard from him, but maybe one day I will. Who knows?
After we finished touring around Harran, we got back into the car and drove towards the otogar. Our friends said they wanted to take us out to dinner to a place that was a bit out of the way (about two hours outside of Urfa). When we got to the bus station, they didn’t tell us where we were going or what we were doing exactly. They just kind of told us to go from one car to the other. We left their other car and got into a black SUV with tinted windows. It was literally just like the mafia in the movies! Once in the car, they started driving ridiculously fast. At first I thought it was awesome because I could say that I had never gone that fast in a car before. However, when they were going about 230km/h (143 mph), it was a bit too fast even for me! When I asked if they should slow down in case they got pulled over by the police, the leader turned around and looked at me and said, “Biz polisiz” (or something like that), which literally translates to “we are the police.” At that time I fully understood and appreciated the situation we were in. These guys could do anything they wanted and nothing would happen. They could kill us, drag our bodies out into the wilderness in Turkey and no one would ever find us. In some ways it was a very scary thought! Luckily, these guys were pretty harmless and the range of their activities pretty much involved doing anything they wanted much like a teenager with no rules would.
As we drove in the car, we began learning things that were interesting and frightening. For example, the guy driving us was not allowed to leave the country due to a pending court case. We also discovered that he had hit someone recently in his car. Other fun facts included that the government gives these people guns to keep order. I think they spoke more freely about these things than normal because we were foreigners. I wished so badly at this point that I could speak Turkish so I could fully understand what they were saying. Instead, I had to rely on what Elif was able to translate (she couldn’t translate everything because of the speed of the conversation).
After about an hour to an hour and a half (should have been easily 2 or 3 hours), we arrived at the restaurant they wanted to which they wanted to take us. The restaurant was serving us a 4 course meal with appetizer, salad, main entrée, and desert. They offered alcohol but after I understood exactly the kinds of danger I could be in if these guys decided they didn’t like us anymore, I decided to decline respectfully. The meal was absolutely phenomenal though! The appetizer was a melted cheese type dish that melted in my mouth. The main entrée was quite unique. It was a hashish kebab (as in the same stuff people smoke). However, the amount in food is so diluted that it would be impossible to eat enough to feel anything. It was a really delicious kebab though and it melted in my mouth. For dessert we had an assortment of different fruits.
After our meal, we drove back to the leader’s office (at the same breakneck speeds as before). This time I was much more worried because these guys had had alcohol to drink! We sat and drank tea and talked a bit more. At this time, he actually apologized to Elif for putting her in an uncomfortable position (privately he apologized to her). We understood that even though these guys have to do some very not nice things that break just about every law, deep down they had good hearts and they were legitimately just trying to show us a good time and some hospitality while we were in Southeastern Turkey. They offered me a coke and whiskey but I told them I didn’t want it. The other guy said I only didn’t drink because Elif told me not to, but I legitimately don’t like the drink. Also, I didn’t really want to drink with them after all I had learned! I didn’t think it would be safe. We had a nice talk and then they took us back to our hotel (we decided that after the first night we didn’t want to stay with them again). They warned us that the Southeast was not always a safe place and that we shouldn’t be so trusting next time. Then, they told the hotel owner that we were his friends and they should take special care of us. Then we said goodbye. The next morning in the otogar we saw Mustafa as we were leaving and said our goodbyes to him as well (he didn’t come with us to dinner the night before). We did not use their bus company to travel to Mardin because we had felt they had given us enough hospitality and did not want them to pay for our bus ticket as well (because they almost certainly would have done so). So ends our crazy times in Urfa.
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