More Burglaries

[cassam101]

Sept will be my fourth visits to Kalkan. The last was seven years ago and we had a bad experience when our villa was broken into and my son's money and a camera were stolen. I say broken into but a key was used and then mabe to look as if a downstairs door was used but that was his exciting. We had our suspicions it was guy who cleaned the pool he was questioned by police but had no proof. We has to make make two visits to police in Kas waste two full days as we were kept waiting so long. In the end they promised to post out a crime number for insurance which we never did receive so coukdn't claim. More than loosing money we knew it was because my son was being watched where he was hiding it(no safe) as his room was next to pool. He was a teenager then and very upset. This put us off returning to Kalkan for seven years as also the villa owner was as much use as a chocolate teapot. Now when I read all about villas being broken into while occupants are asleep I really wish we hadn't decided to return. I have always loved Kalkan but now I'm just plain scared. Can anyone put my mind at rest? We are staying at anther villa this time and at least it has a safe.

[Firecat]

Reading other forums it seems that Kalkan is not unique in having this problem. I think it has a lot to do with the preponderance of self catering (villas and apartments) in Kalkan compared to some other resorts as it's easier for a thief to enter a private residence than a hotel. I have been having anxiety attacks about my impending visit because I will be staying alone, but I have decided to just chill about it and not stress.  During the two weeks I am in Kalkan undoubtedly there will be burglaries, but in relation to the total number of holiday properties this will be a tiny percentage and it would just be bad luck to be one of those chosen. I will be taking extra precautions to secure my possessions though and nothing will be left lying around. I don't know if the safe is a good thing or a bad thing as it screams 'I contain valuables!!' and a determined thief might be able to get into it - or even rip it out and take it away. I will keep cash and passport in my bag during the day and under my mattress at night. Things like iPad, camera etc. I will have in my room at night and will lock my bedroom door. During the day I intend to hide them somewhere which is not obvious to an opportunistic burglar. I wish I didn't have to think in these terms, but it's a sensible strategy. It would be such a shame if these low life thieving barstewards deterred people from enjoying all that Kalkan has to offer.

[davenottm]

We were one of the burglaries on the night on the 23rd July that DianeK speaks about at the top of the thread (although there were five that I was aware of - four holiday makers and one Turkish resident). We were "lucky" in that we heard a noise downstairs that woke us and we went down to find a side window had been forced. Most of our valuables were placed in the safe which itself was inside a locked cupboard, so we lost "only" a cheap camera and £35. It was very disturbing at the time and the Jandarma were brilliant for us, coming out very quickly. The forensic officers also came out the same days for fingerprints. I was stuck in their car for a number of hours as they responded to the other calls that morning, but they took me to the station, took a statement and gave me a crime report.

The irony is that in our guestbook, someone had reported an attempted break in a couple of weeks previously, but had obviously not reported it either to the Jandarma or to the villa manager. PLEASE, if you find that someone has even attempted to break in, report it to the villa manager so that they can check the security and if necessary fit additional locks.

Will it put me off coming back to Kalkan? Possibly (I did not have a complete night's sleep for the three weeks that we were there - paranoid that it would happen again), but in future bookings I will be asking owners about a safe and alarm because they will now assume greater importance for me.