Beware - burglars about

[Nicky Adams]

I am sorry to have to report that burglars are operating Kalkan.  The doors and Windows at our villa were all locked and we were asleep in our beds.  Theives forced entry between 4am and 8 am and came into our bedroom and our teenage children's bedrooms.  They left with 4 laptops, cameras, blackberries, ipods, cash and worst of all, my diamond and sapphire engagement ring and my diamond eternity ring.  I have worn these rings everyday for the past 24 years so you can imagine how I feel........

This is not an isolated incident.  I think residents need to unite and bring in cctv, alarms on villas and if need be, roaming night patrols.  Kalkan is a great place and it is sad that it is getting a reputation for burglaries.

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=9879.0

[davenottm]

Whereabouts are you staying?

[Kalkan regular]

I'm sorry for the invasion of your private area and loss of your precious things and it must have been very scarry to know you or your children could have woken up and confronted them but if you check on other Turkish sites you will find that Kalkan isn't the burglary centre of Turkey and it is a pretty rare occurance.

I agree that we all should try to ensure the safety of our apartments/villas (which is why we bought an apartment on a complex with 24 hour staff on site all year rather than a villa) with alarms on site, but I really don't think Kalkan is as bad as many places in Turkey or other countries, including the UK. Personally we aren't for the whole town being covered by cctv. It seems like a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

[kevincat99]

Kalkan Regular - yes it may seem to be a sledgehammer to crack a nut - but it would be interesting if you took the same somewhat relaxed attitude if it happened to you and your family

We had an incident last week when my wife awoke at 7am [yes 7 oclock in the morning]  to find a man in the bedroom about to go downstairs [and yes we are locals and have lived here for 8 years and do take precautions ]

There was also the incident last week when apparantly 3 Turkish women entered an apartment block in the early evening, went up to the second floor, even whilst there were people about in the garden,broke  open the door and stole items

When these sort of things happens in broad daylight,  you maybe start to look at everyone differently - is that really a pool man , are they really cleaners - it doesn't help the Turkish population either if mistrust is the norm.

Yes, Kalkan is not the burglary capital of the world but it is a place which attracts the more well to do tourists, many of whom stay in private residences rather than hotels, making easier targets  and therefore it may attract more than it's fair share of those with criminal intent

But when it affects you and yours it seems to look like that

[Chucky]

My son and his family are there at the moment and so I messaged him to remember to double check doors and windows of the villa he is staying in. He told me he had some kids come round asking to be let in to "repair " an A/C unit. He knew it was not broken so would not let them in. When he checked with the letting agents they had not sent anyone round. 
Don't let your guard down or your brains at the airport, thieves are everywhere...not just in Kalkan. Take the same common sense security precautions you would at home.

[pw]

I'm sorry for the invasion of your private area and loss of your precious things and it must have been very scarry to know you or your children could have woken up and confronted them but if you check on other Turkish sites you will find that Kalkan isn't the burglary centre of Turkey and it is a pretty rare occurance.

I agree that we all should try to ensure the safety of our apartments/villas (which is why we bought an apartment on a complex with 24 hour staff on site all year rather than a villa) with alarms on site, but I really don't think Kalkan is as bad as many places in Turkey or other countries, including the UK. Personally we aren't for the whole town being covered by cctv. It seems like a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

Easy for you to say with, presumably, your jewellry box & electronic equipment intact! Regardless of what it might say on other Turkish sites I should think Nicky Adams may well think Kalkan is the crime capital of the Med right now.

And  it doesn't appear to be such a rare occurrence.............except, perhaps, in your gated community.

PW

[Irene]

So sorry to hear about this awful experience,  especially the loss of your rings,  I hope the Jandarma catch the perpetrators soon,  I would bet money on it that they are NOT from Kalkan,  I do hope you can manage to enjoy the rest of your holiday,  and not let this incident spoil your opinion of Turkey or the lovely people of Kalkan.  With best wishes.

[Cajaran]

We had an incident back in June.  Two guys claiming to be from our "previous" maintenance company coming to check on things at the villa - carrying a cliipboard and so looking kind of official.  Fortunately our outside gate was locked so they couldn't come in.  When I met them at the gate, one said to the other in Turkish - "English".  As we had kicked the maintenance company into touch (for reasons I won't mention on here although I would love to name and shame them for what they did to us), I told them that our contract had finished and left them at the gate.  They subsequently left on their scooter.

We did contact the previous maintenance company and asked them why they had sent somebody to check on the villa when we had kicked them into touch 6 months earlier, to which we were told they had nothing to do with them and they hadn't sent anybody!!! 

I must say if it hadn't been us - the Owners - at the Villa, unsuspecting rental guests may have let them in and who knows what would have happened - maybe one guy a decoy whilst the other one looked around rifling the place!!!

Hope the above makes sense and please be on your guard. 

We now advise our guests to lock the outside gate advising them that occasionally you get restaurant owners calling at the villa with flyers for their restaurant and rather than be disturbed whilst laying by the pool to keep the gate locked. This is so as not to alarm them to the fact that there are undesirables and burglaries happening in Kalkan.

 

[tonik1945]

Might be a good idea to take a photo of these unwanted callers. If they are genuine you have lost nothing. Very easy to do if you have a camera on your mobile.

[Nicky Adams]

Thanks for messages and one must remember that there are many more good people in the world than bad but nonetheless, it really did shake us all up and I dont want it to happen to anyone else.

I also agree with comment that these robbers are not from Kalkan - and the Jandarma agreed - but still, they got away with a lot of valubles and that means they will be back soon.......

I was very naive to let my kids all bring thier laptops and in future I will only bring fake jewellery. However, worth noting that we were NOT being complacent and did not let anyone in - when this happened and were alseep in our beds with ALL windows and doors securely locked.  Also worth noting that the Jandarma took over 2 hours to arrive which seems slow even by English standards! Perhaps the Jandarma need to be driving around more at night?

[kevincat99]

Nicky - yes the Jandarma time seems very slow - when we had a problem they were there within 20 minutes of the call but oddly when I rang them and said I could give a description of the intruder so maybe they could look around the area there and then they were notat all interested - semed very odd to me when he must have been somewhere in the vicinity

As someone else said in another post the Jandarma are a branch of the military and are not the police and Kalkan will not get any police until the population is more than 5000

Why can't we have a police presence in the season when the population rises to 10,000++ and reduce it in the winter

It is also interesting to note that this topic which could potentially affect every local and holiday maker in Kalkan attracts so little attention [ some 10 postings ] when some unimportant tpoic such as water hammocks attracts upwards of 4 PAGES of comments

Different people - different priorities

[Lizilu20]

Hi kevincat, as a family of holiday makers and security conscious travellers, we wholeheartedly understand your posting and agree with your sentiments. We are however "enjoying kalkan" and enjoy reading and posting about lighthearted subjects too. If there was anything we could do to help reduce the burglaries in Kalkan we would and will support any action to instate a police presence as we understand that Kalkan is a growing town, especially in the summer months. Surely there's room for all discussions whether it's lighthearted banter or more serious subjects. Perhaps people do read,agree and sympathise with these kind of posts but feel more comfortable commenting on less serious subjects. I do hope I cause no offense by commenting and posting about less serious matters but I'm on my holidays and seeing the good side to Kalkan as well as the bad. We personally take this subject very seriously and do all we can to protect ourselves and our rented property and are grateful for posters making us aware of the burglaries.

[kevincat99]

Lizilu I wholeheartedly agree with you

This is a forum to cover all subjects, all opinions and all tastes

All I was / am trying to do is to raise awareness of this subject

ps, I do not have a water hammock    or should it be   

[Cosetta]

Nicky Adams, I am really sorry to hear of your loss, especially of jewelry with special meaning to you.  I hope that you have some insurance coverage for the laptops and other things stolen.

Two or three comments on this subject.  First, villas with PVC windows (most of them) are fairly easily broken into even when locked.  I am told they can be popped out easily with a strong screwdriver.  I cannot vouch for the veracity of this comment but I can say that when some would-be thieves once tried to pop out our wooden, hand-made windows, they quickly gave up as the windows didn't budge.  They only knicked the wood.

Second, it is advisable for everyone to lock their bedroom doors at night.  It is not likely that a thief will break down your door to enter the bedroom.  We always advise guests not to leave anything valuable in sight on any floor when they are out or sleeping.

Yes, the thieves that have been caught have all been from outside Kalkan.  Turks also have been burglarized.

By way of the grapevine, there has been a comment that if enough people, both foreign and Turkish residents, would get together a paper (not online) petition with a sizeable number of signatures, someone higher up than the local mayor would try to help in getting us a police presence, at least in summer.

If this proposition is serious, we will try to collect as many signatures as possible.  However, it must be from those who are residents, not temporary or tourists, as I was told.

[kevincat99]

Cosetta - good idea

However after the last Foreigner's Meeting in Kas , the other month, to hear problems that foreigners encounter here - were we not promised one in Kalkan ??

We were promised one a year or so ago and that never happened either

Does this maybe tell us something ??

[Bdancer]

Very scary to be in the property and have this happen. Not really sure what the answer is. An extended police presence?  even if it was only seasonal it might help to deter some of it.

I would think that a petition would be good idea, it certainly can't do any harm and ersonally I think it's right to alert people so that at least we can all be more vigilant.  We also advise guests on keeping items locked away, but it's a fine balance as you don't want to scare people before they have even arrived. We have now gone down the route of installing an alarm system, which you also set when you are in the villa, so at least if anyone tried to get in while guests are asleep, it should frighten them off. Hopefullly it will never be put to the test
Isis

[Cosetta]

I was under the impression that the Kalkan meeting of foreigners was only a suggestion, not a promise.  The answer is simple: send a formal request to the Kas governor to hold such a meeting here.  He is the person whom we shall have to petition anyway.

On the subject of petitions, maybe instead of collecting a paper with signatures, we should all write a letter (in Turkish) requesting a police presence in the summer months in Kalkan.  A minimum of 200 people could fax, email or post letters to the Kas governor's office with copies to the Antalya governor. 

Supposedly, the local governments are obliged to answer these communications.  But we need Turkish residents to collaborate on this too, and that is not so easy.  How many Kalkan residents here can get a Turkish friend to send an official fax or letter to the Kas and Antalya governors ?  I cannot honestly say that any of our Turkish friends would do this in an official way for fear of reprisals or because they believe that it's useless, nothing will change.

PS.  We also have an alarm system.  Maybe that is the best personal solution.

[kevincat99]

Cosetta so it seems that we grin and bear it - perhaps buy a shotgun as well 

[caradog]

If you are that worried folks, just put "portable alarm" into EBay. For about 5 or 6 quid, you can buy an infra red motion detector about he size of a large mobile phone. Easy to fit in suitcase. Anyone entering a room will set off a 105db alarm (that's loud). Much more effective than a baking sheet, easier to pack and prob just as cheap.
And yes I have tried one and they do work well.

[Lizilu20]

Thanks for that tip caradog, may well be worth buying one.