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Bahcevan
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 39
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 5:48 pm Post subject: Bribes, Scams, Rackets, Hustles, etc... LET'S HEAR 'EM! |
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This topic is so juicy, I am surprised not to have found it under
discussion so far. I am wondering who has any good stories
to share about the Byzantine intrigues with which Istanbul is rife.
You know, all the dirt and grit that you find in the big city.
There must be some good "True Crime" stories out there.
Please tell all!
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31
Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1797
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 6:05 pm Post subject: scam |
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American foreign policy |
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Faustino
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 601
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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They have a policy? |
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31
Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1797
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Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 7:09 pm Post subject: American policy |
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Faustino wrote: |
They have a policy? |
Of course they do. If Turkey doesn`t play ball over Iraq, Kurds, Incirlik, Azerbaijan, need I go on... you will see a scenario like in ''Metal Forza."' |
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TeachEnglish
Joined: 09 Feb 2005 Posts: 239
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:43 am Post subject: wow |
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From the interesting subject words used.. I thought this was about the private language centers in Istanbul.. like Berlitz. |
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31
Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 1797
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:03 am Post subject: lang schools |
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Don`t tempt me. |
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calsimsek
Joined: 15 Jul 2004 Posts: 775 Location: Ist Turkey
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 11:20 am Post subject: |
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Now now then, lets all hold hands around the camp fire.
Fight temptation 31 ( I agree with you thou ) |
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dmb
Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: |
There must be some good "True Crime" stories out there. |
it wasn't me. I was at home.... I was with a friend. |
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Bogazicibaby
Joined: 22 May 2003 Posts: 68 Location: Istanbul
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with TeachEnglish |
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Bahcevan
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 39
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 6:00 pm Post subject: lesson 1: friends in high places |
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There was an old English guy named John. He worked in Bakirkoy
( as I recall) and taught English at a dershane there. There
were a number of other teachers, mostly women, who worked at
the same place and they were on quite friendly terms with the
Turkish woman, who was the director. (more on this in a moment)
John and some of the other Brits were in Taksim one night, having
consumed large quantities of liquor and probably being a bit loud.
Apparently John ran afoul of a certain cop, who didn't like his face,
or his drunkenness, his Britishness, or whatever. More likely, he
like the idea of extracting some cash from a drunken yabanci. So,
the cop grabbed John and indicated that he had broken this or that
rule. John, like most foreigners in Turkey, couldn't speak much
Turkish beyond "bir bira lutfen," so he just went along with it. The
cop ended up sticking John into one of those white police-kiosks and
locking him in there. Poor drunk Jack was stuck in a box. He demanded
to be released, as he was a loyal subject of the queen and so on, but
the cop wouldn't open the door. After a while the cop began to indicate
that John would have to pay him in order to be let out. At first John
told him to stick it, but after a couple of hours the booze began to wear
off and John started to get really nervous (not to mention having to take
a leak). Finally, John did pay the requested amount and was let loose.
It was about 50 dollars. Before he let him go, the cop made sure to get
right up into John's face and give him a patronizing smile and a pat on
the back. Since this was in Taksim, John had the displeasure of seeing
this cop occasionally on his trips to town.
The ladies who taught at the same school as John had been having
troubles of their own in Bakirkoy. It seems that they were being
'mistaken' for prostitutes (by police) while waiting for the bus.
Various others had been bothered by other people, but it was the
cops that were really bothering those women. As it turned out,
the director with whom they were all so friendly was the wife of
a pretty high-up police chief. The women entreated their director
to ask her husband for help in deflecting some of the cop-love
that was being directed their way. One day not long after, the
director came back with a gift for these ladies. She gave them
each some kind of Official Looking card that stated that the bearer
was under the Direct guidance and care of the Chief of Police of
this that or the other... It was signed by the Big Guy himself and
was to be shown to any over-eager policeman who bothered the
women.
It didn't take John very long to hear that the women had these cards.
So he went ahead and borrowed one from a colleague and made a full
color copy of it for himself, and of course had it laminated.
Armed with this card one day, he headed for Taksim. It wasn't long
before he saw the cop who had taken his money. As he approached,
the cop began to go into his usual 'sarcastic' greeting. John calmly
handed him the card. As the cop began to read the card, John
took out a pen and a piece of paper, intending to write down the
cop's serial number from his uniform. Apparently, the cop's face
paled as he read the card, and he noticed that John was looking
at the patch where his serial number was located. He started freaking
out. Covering the patch with his hand, he began to plead with John.
John just held out his hand and waited, and it was not long before the
guy had shakingly returned the previously pilfered 50 bucks to the wily
Englishman. |
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Bahcevan
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 39
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 6:07 pm Post subject: Re: wow |
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TeachEnglish wrote: |
From the interesting subject words used.. I thought this was about the private language centers in Istanbul.. like Berlitz. |
Absolutely... please do tell about school scams too if they are
Interesting! It's nice to get past the usual moaning and groaning
and get to something UNusual, right?
--------------------
31, as far as US foreign policy being a True Crime- you might
as well have told us that The Sky is blue or The Ocean is wet.
Do you know any crimes that are not in the front page news
every day? |
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dmb
Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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well done John |
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TeachEnglish
Joined: 09 Feb 2005 Posts: 239
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:48 pm Post subject: scam.. at Berlitz? |
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The only scam at Berlitz is encountered by the teachers.. The Evil troll that runs the place and his sidekicks treat teachers like 3rd class citizens. The place has turned into a hell hole and gets worse every day. |
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preston
Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Posts: 107
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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surely the most common scam is the 'come and have a drink in my friend's bar' routine where someone takes you to some bar and when the bill comes it's $500 or more and they threaten extreme violence until you cough up. An alternative version is where they drug you and leave you walletless in some back street. Apparently the police are involved too and take a 50% commision to help you get the money back. Not happened to me but at the beginning I always used to get dodgies coming up asking me the time on Istiklal cad and offering to show me a bar. Doesn't seem to happen anymore though. Maybe they recognise me now. |
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molly farquharson
Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 839 Location: istanbul
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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this happened to one of our teachers last year. He was very embarrassed (he was married and his wife was in their country). One of the big tall imposing office staff went with him and managed to get the bill reduced by about a thrid -- to 600 milyon. I have never heard of this happening to women, by the way. |
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