My wife was robbed by a taxi driver right at a daylight in Istanbul. That thug collected all her money, and credit cards, and documents, and a mobile phone at knifepoint and threw out of a car in some back alleys. Now she's sitting at the local police-station. They've been very rude, and aggressive, and try to force her admit guilty for illegal staying in Turkey. They refused her to call the Swedish Consulate General. For luck some German tourist was there also complaining about a theft. He gave her a phone so that she could get in touch with me, for she didn't remember the embassy number.
I called to the Swedish Consulate. Now they've been looking for her all over the Istanbul police-stations, for she had no idea, where she was.
How else can I help her?
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I don't want to make too much comment on this as there may well be far more involved than what you have said here.The Swedish Embassy are now aware that she is being held in custody and will learn at which police station.They will then be able to sort out just what the problem is and offer legal support if that is appropriate or needed.
The fact that she has no documentation to prove her identity plus possibly some language barrier is likely the root cause here,but wait for the Embassy representative to arrive with her.
This is not the usual behaviour of police with foreign tourists (in spite of the fact you may well have heard lurid stories!)but do remember that we live in strange times and the security forces need to be very sure about just who they are dealing with.For all they know she could be a terrorist or an illegal immigrant etc.
Regarding the theft;the city is very well covered by MOBESE the security cameras system plus security cameras of private businesses so once they move on to dealing with the robbery there is every chance of something showing up on a camera in the vicinty.
For now just stay in touch with your embassy.
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All tourists are registered with the police by their hotel. Thus, the police only needs to run their database and they have all the details they need - this is aside from the entry registration at the airport or border. Thus, it is at their discretion to hold a foreigner for lack of documentation. In other words, they know who she is.
Denial of consular assistance appears to become increasingly common since the declaration of a state of emergency in July 2016.
I hope you advised her not to sign any document she cannot read.
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I think you have come too late to this post as it happened days ago.Had it satill been ongoing I am sure the OP would have come back to the forum.
I am interested in your comment...
"Denial of consular assistance appears to become increasingly common since the declaration of a state of emergency in July 2016. "
The police refused to give her a telephone,they did not refuse consular access.Had they been refusing access she would not have been sitting in the lobby she would have been sitting in a cell!Can you provide proof to back up your odd claim?I ask because it is very easy to make comments like this and have them believed when actually there is no truth in them.On rare occasions consular access is denied initially;usually in terrorism cases such as the NYE Reina club bomber for example but otherwise no ,this doesn't happen.
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Denying a phone call to the consulate is denial of a request for consular assistance. They did that. No need to discuss this further.
As for your construction: It is false - the police had her details.
The information provided by me is relevant to other readers as well: The police has your details at all times unlike claimed here before.
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Perhaps consider the original post and also the very first sentence of my original reply.I didn't go into a lot of detail on this because I felt there was more to this than met the eye.The fact that the OP has never returned to the forum,apparently not even to check if anyone replied -confirms my initial thoughts about this post....that not all the facts were given or this was a hoax post.
Your point about contacting the hotel is well made and that too is another factor which leads me to my thoughts about the post.
But you still haven't given proof about this so called denial of consular access which you claim has "become increasingly common" since the OHAL went into place.The simple fact is there is no evidence because it isn't true.
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Well, thanks for agreeing on the hotel item. This is important for travelers and this info will help when in similar situations. I should add that most hotels have a business card and give these to guests, if not, take one. The hotel staff will be helpful and do clarify things.
For the denial of consular assistance: I made the point, you added that it is limited. Why should I prove your second claim? As for the numbers, it seems that the European press indicates such a development. But this is of little interest for this posting here. Alone travelers should be alert and not necessarily be surprised if their request is not complied with. Being mentally prepared for this will help.
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If you take anything concerning Turkey printed in the European media seriously then you need to think again I'm afraid.
In the past 12 months there has been one single case which was highlighted by the press which actually had solid ground.That concerned a female U.S journalist who had been Syria claimed to have been kidnapped and escaped her captors and entered Turkey via illegal methods where she was apprehended.She kicked up a real stink,refused to answers questions posed to her and basically behaved in a manner which could only serve to increase suspicion about her story.Very unprofessional and unco-operative......and then she chose later to blurt out a very distorted version of events to the media.
This case stuck in my mind as I personally know an authority member who was directly involved in the case.Had there been other cases of access denial then you can be sure I would have seen something in the press.As a foreign national resident myself I naturally take special interest in issues like this as you can probably understand.
This idea that genuine tourists could be denied consular access its frightening to people and that is a pity when there is no basis to it.It is just another piece of anti-Turkey propaganda(a bit like the OP?).If we are discussing those with 'ulterior' motives(you know who I mean) however,then yes,it quite likely does happen just as it would in any country even in the western world.