- Ankara Travel Report Dated Added: Wed Feb 14 2001 Submitted by: Local expert
There is some more action in Ankara than just the state run brothel in Ulus.
1) Street action: Try Cinnah Cad. in summer on weekend nights. There are several girls on the right side (when you go up the hill). The girls are between 5 and 7 and charge USD 100 per go. You can agree the full night, this would be around USD 300. You have to take the girls to your hotel. Lately there has also started some action on Baglar Cad. in the suburb of Seyranbaglari.
2) Bars: The best bar to pick up hookers is definitely ''Avlu Bar'' (located next to the Dedeman Hotel). Don't trust anyother information. Avlu Bar is usually crowded with up to 70 chicks after 22.00. You find girls rated 7 and 9. The price is USD 100 and 300 for the night. Great place. Again, you have to take the girl back to your hotel (no problem in Dedeman or the other big hotels). All other bars, especially the ones on Hosdere Cad. in Cankaya are rip-offs.
3) Whore house: The whore house in Ulus is disgusting. Don't even think of going there.
4) Pavyon: A Pavyon is a kind of bar, restaurant, etc. with live shows. They are very expensive and you can only hold the hand of the girl you invite over to your table. Sometimes (but you gotta be really lucky),you might be able to persuade the girl to meet you the day after until 20.00. Keep away from these places, they are rip-offs. (Review # 3158)
- Ankara Travel Report Dated Added: Sun Oct 29 2000 Submitted by: noname
The scene on Cinnah Cad. starts at about 22.00 and ends at about 04.00 when the bars in Ankara close.~~The girls are all between 20 and 30 years of age but not really pretty. It’ s kind of the last chance you take. ~~If you do not have a car, take a cab, the driver would not mind to pick up the girl and bring you back together with her home or to the hotel. Some cab drivers even have telnumbers of hookers and are willing to give them to you.
Bars: There are two bars with hookers close to the Dedeman Hotel. One is called the ‘Avlu Bar’ and worth a visit. Here you find up to 50 hookers a night (more on the weekend) and you really have good choice. You take the girl to your hotel or home, they charge USD 100 for a screw and up to USD 300 for the night.
Beware of bars on a street called ‘Hosdere Cad.’ up in Çankaya. There are some places on the left side when you go down the road. These places are full of transsexuals, they get very close and smell as if they wanted to rip you off.
Revue bars: Forget them all !! Only rip offs, especially when you are not a Turk. There are many on the road to Maltepe and they have all pretty bad shows (non nude) and charge you a lot of dosh for a beer. When you ask for one of the (sometimes really beautiful) Russian girls to sit next to you at your table, they charge you a fortune for her drinks, and these girls do drink fast.
The only thing you can do there is hold her hand, nothing else. Sometimes (but really only when X-mas and Easter fall on the same day) they give you their telnumber and you can call them to your place during daytime or the early evening. (Review # 2631)
- Istanbul Travel Report Dated Added: Sun Jul 09 2000 Submitted by: Anon
July 2000. Agree with comments on Lalely district. I went into the "Safari" disco and was immediately accosted with a $150 bottle of champagne when I began to talk to a girl. One real FSU blond looker with extremely tight body and great pelvic thrust on the dance floor caught my eye. While other girls were $50-75 for 3 hours, I was told she was $150. I asked why and the waiter pointed to the "padrone" of the club, who came over and said to me that she was his woman and that she sold most of the champagne in the club. I decided what the hell and said lets do it but at my hotel. 70% of money exchanged hands and we were put in a cab. When I said my hotel to the guard, everyone freaked out. I insisted and said that the hotel was cool. They said ok. Evidently, these girls don't carry their passports. The only thing the hotels care about is that they get their extra fee for a second guest (usually 20-30 USD). Girl gave great service but refused BJ even with condom. Very tight...great moves and well worth it.
The best thing would probably to talk to the reception desk men. I also had contacts through Turkish friends of business who arranged for afternoon delights for 50USD for 3 hours and 150usd for overnight which was the best option. (Review # 1900)
- Istanbul Travel Report Dated Added: Mon Jan 31 2000 Submitted by: Anon
I visited Istanbul from 28/1/2000 to 31/1/2000 The information in this guide is correct. Try Lalei/Asakary area On street "Mustafa Kamal Caddesi " In Turkish Caddesi means street. and on a side street of intersection "Mustafa Kamal Caddesi " & Mesipha caddesi. There are some Night Clubs ads Disco These are Rip off people will try to take you in But again that is a rip-off . Instead go to any BAR the drink costs 2$. There are lot of girls there in the BARS they will approach you the Drink for girl is also 2$ You can fin 8 or nine there also . If you do not like the girls in one BAR just go out & try other BAR there are lots of BAR there all full of Girls . The main thing cost US$30 for a few hours to a night it depend on the bargain. Most important Discuss & agree every thing ( Time , what to do, how may times, every thing) in advance with the girl. DO NOT tip the girl in advance tell her if you like the service then you will tip her also. Have a nice time (Review # 1438)
- Istanbul Massage Parlor Dated Added: Sun Dec 26 1999 Submitted by: nylon
Massage parlor in upscale Nisantasi district called Nadide... Located on the first street on the right from Valikonagi street. There is a sign outside with phone numbers on it. (212 - 2417582 / 2416382) It is open from noon to midnight, 7 days a week. About 8 to 10 girls between the ages 20 and 30 work in this place... The setting and the rooms clean and are decorated like a real massage parlor but I doubt any of the girls know how to give a real massage. Condom a must for FB but BJs are w/out it. An older lady opens the door and you are taken to the main lobby where she asks you if you'd like tea or coffee - no alcohol! - while you "examine" the girls. You can chat with the girl of your choice for a while before she takes you upstairs. Turkish hookers invariably begin talking about their private problems such as their kid's illness or a fight with their landlord, etc. as soon as you get intimate so one may have to be blunt about the topic and the direction of the conversation. At Nadide, first you have to pay about 15-20 million Turkish Lira (aprrx. $30) at the desk. Upstairs you tip her first about the same amount or a little more. They have clean shower facilities for before and after. You can have double as well, which is what i went for after becoming a regular with this girl named Buket (excellent service, a bit rubenesque and a 6.5). During my last visit, I asked her to invite another hot blond number who caught my eye at the lobby. The second girl came in the room (can't remember her name but she is a 7.5 on my scale) while we were at it and watched us for a while, then joined the action. (I arranged to pay her share - $40 - to Buket to make matters less complicated.) Although I made myself perfectly clear against it, #2 kept insisting on sticking her finger in my butt, telling all kinds of stories about how even her most conservative clients love it. Buket did not interfere but was pissed when #2 become dominant for Buket considered herself the real host and the 2nd girl our "guest". Nonetheless, I came quickly for a new girl is always my biggest aphrodisiac but I was irritated about the whole negative circuitry, too, and instead of getting double, I can say I only got half the pleasure. After I cummed I told #2 she should not insist on such things, and after she left the room, Buket gave me one of the best bjs I ever had for an apology. She gave me her private cellular number and said she could come over to my apartment discreetly but I didn't have the time/chance to call her, yet. Lastly, I hear there are many other nice massage parlors but I don't know their locations since they are not listed in the yellow pages. (Review # 1024)
- Istanbul Escort Review Dated Added: Thu Dec 16 1999 Submitted by: worldexplorer
Like most cities in the region, FSU ladies are abundant in Istanbul. This is your best bet.~~
But they are mostly concentrated in an area called Laleli. There is a short side street near the intersection of Mustafa Kemal Caddesi and Mesihpasa Caddesi where they hang out. There are both restaurants, bars and discos. The girls range in quality so pick out the one you like and introduce yourself. They mostly speak poor english but will spend the night for $100. There are street hustlers here and don't let them take you off to see a special place because it is always a dead end - usually in Taksim.
Otherwise the rip-off bars are abundant, especially near Taksim. In fact I have never been to a place near Taksin that I could recommend. There are lots of street hustlers who bother you endlessly and relentlessly. Once inside you get charged for expensive beers and peanuts.~~ (Review # 1006)
- Ankara, Istanbul Travel Report Dated Added: Thu May 27 1999 Submitted by: Mr Erect Gawker
There is not much difference between the small crowd in front of Komissyon 14 and one looking at an interesting new cage in a zoo. 30 men are staring through a large glass pane. Behind the display window are - not a group of rare monkeys from Sumatra - but seven women, two of them reputedly recently arrived from Anatolia. The two new ones are very young, only clad in underwear and seated at a little distance from the old inhabitants: Five fat women in a large, stained sofa. They are smoking cigarettes, talk on a mobile, watch TV, or chat. They are ugly and look unhealthy. The two new girls are not talking.
Outside a young fellow in jeans and leather jacket gets his courage up and steps through the door. He approaches a fully dressed Madame, white-haired and wearing something reminiscent of a golden crown. He points to one of the new arrivals, a very slim girl with see-through underwear and jet black hair. He places some money notes on a table.
The girl takes the lead, and he follows her up some stone steps in the back of the room. Exactly eight minutes later the girl returns. Her customer comes right after her, walks out the door without a word, pushes his way through the doorway of Ankara's Genelev - the biggest brothel in the Turkish capital.
Turkey is one of the few countries in the world that has officially legalized prostitution. And no other country has systematized it like Turkey. Round about 100.000 women are registered as prostitutes in Genelevs - a term that literally means ""public house"" - all over the country.
The attitude is very pragmatic: Prostitution will exist under any circumstances no matter what the authorities do. Therefor it may as well be public and controlled to suppress the spread of all sorts of genital and social maladies from gonorrhea to aids to drugs and pimping.
The system has developed into a nationwide trade in humans, a system controlled by the state and creating fortunes for private owners and the State. In a report Anti-Slavery International (ASI) has called it modern-day slavery.
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In Ankara the brothel is situated right below the Citadel and the Old Town. It is not easy to find because the law takes pains to specify that a Genelev must not be visible from ""main streets, places of entertainment, places of assembling, educational and religious institutions or public authorities.""
The Genelev consists of four small streets that are completely surrounded by a high wall, as demanded by the law. The entrance is a single iron door, guarded by three uniformed police officers the Thursday afternoon when I was there. Several hundreds of men pass in and out. They show their ID cards to the officers before they take a look at the girls behind glass windows in numbered houses: Komissyon 1 to 32. Slender men of small stature move back and forth bringing tea, bread and cigarettes to the women. The three story houses - old and dilapidated - are full of little rooms where the women live and work.
After the initial surprise over how openly everything happens here my wonder mostly derives from the minimal time with which the transactions in Komissyon 14 are carried through. I met a young fellow with mustache, mobile telephone and bordeaux colored jacket at a primitive small café on the corner of the second and third street.
He explained: ""You will have to pay between five and ten million lira (13 to 26 US dollars) for about ten minutes.""
For what? - ""Sex!""
But how can you do that, you'll at least have to undress ...? ""No, you don't undress,"" he said as if this was a quite obvious thing.
So the public brothel system is without any illusions whatsoever. Nobody puts up any pretense, neither the women withering behind the window panes, nor the men debating the goods on display. The least illusory thing here is the kind of sex for sale. It is clearly not perceived as anything but a physical exercise.
On this Thursday alone hundreds of ten minute deals are struck, making the Genelev system one of the nation's biggest money machines. Each year the Turkish state publishes the names of the top 100 tax payers. The press pays close attention to this list. For several years an 83 years old Armenian, Matilt Manokian, the man who transformed several brothels into an enormous business empire, has figured among the three top names.
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I paid a visit to Feride Acar, a sociologist at the university in Ankara.
She said: ""This system derives from the Osmannic empire. Only in those days it was hidden. When Turkey was founded as a secular state the brothel system was thoroughly regulated and perceived as very innovative and modern. The demand for sex is still enormous because Turkey has remained a deeply conservative society. In principle only the educated elite has access to sex before marriage - and outside marriage for that matter. Ordinary men, the lower middle and underclass men, go to the Genelev.""
The State cashes in fortunes in taxes. Brothel owners get protection from the State. The men get sex. But what do the women get?
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There is a Genelev in every town, and they are often quite large. The largest, in Izmir, includes 200 houses and circa 2000 resident women. The police officer on duty Thursday afternoon in Ankara explained to me that 350 women live here on a steady basis.
Prostitution is regulated by law number 1593, dealing with ""general hygiene"". In the April 1961 issue of the law periodical of the Turkish Republic, and in a supplement issue from 1973, I found a decree entitled ""Statutes concerning prostitutes, the rules under which brothels must subordinate, and the prevention of transmittable venereal diseases related to prostitution"". The law has no less than 126 paragraphs, and it is enforced in very perfunctory manner and with a firm hand.
Each region has a police squad for ""public morality"" entrusted with the duty of finding and registering prostitutes. The Moral Squad works under ""total secrecy"" and keeps under surveillance women suspected of working independently. If the suspicion is proven correct the authorities must first find out what drove the woman into misery and then consider the possibilities of bringing her back to a ""decent life"".
If this fails, and if the woman is older than 21 ""the rules concerning prostitution are put into effect"". This means that she will be registered as a hooker and forced to move into a Genelev. Her normal ID card is revoked and replaced with the ID card of a prostitute, with her name, professional name, age, place of birth, home address, and working place.
The description in the law is reminiscent of the special rules of the 19th century for the isolation of the mentally ill. And since the fallen women have been taken into custody, they may as well make themselves useful. At many places the police is so thorough in enforcing this law that women who have made money by prostitution just a few times risk being put in a Genelev.
Via a personal connection I met Leyla who has worked as a prostitute in several towns, mostly in a brothel in Izmir. She is 38, and she looks like she is 60. She stopped at the age 35 after 20 years. My friend translated her words for me.
She is old, she said: ""The average life expectancy for women in the brothels is not much over 40.""
""What do you die from?"" I asked.
""Everything. Diseases. We are worn out. Many commit suicide,"" she said.
""How is a typical working day in a Genelev?""
""On the hardest days you work 12 hours. You have a minimum of ten men a day. One a busy day you may have up to 60. The owner decides."" - Brothel owners in a Genelev are often former prostitutes.
Leyla explained that the prostitutes keep 40 percent plus tippings and give the rest to the owner - ""to Madame"". ""It is good pay. It is steady pay. Better than working in a factory.""
She said that most of the women live in the brothel, it has always been like that. But many, especially those with children, have their own apartments. ""They deceive their families into believing that they work outside their home as housemaids.""
""Who cares for their children while they are working?""
""No idea!""
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Before I was thrown out of the Ankara brothel by a stern policeman, a nice colleague of his showed me a file with photos of each woman, her age, address if she lives on the outside, and her working name: Rana, Daisy, Sally ... They are between 20 and 36 years old.
The brothel is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. The women has one day off a week. A few live outside, and if they do not show up the police will come for them.
According to Leyla and Ferice Acar there are two ""kinds"" of women in the brothels: Girls who have run away from their villages with a boyfriend. Bad luck strikes, they loose both virginity and boyfriend and cannot under any circumstances go back to the village. They start out as free lance whores and get caught by the Moral Squad.
The other kind of prostitutes are divorced women or widows who cannot provide for themselves and their children.
But Leyla confirmed also a persistent allegation voiced among others by ASI: That Turkey in the end permits a widespread slave trade.
According to the rules a woman must always have the possibility of leaving a Genelev if she so wishes. A private citizen who forces a woman into a brothel may get from one to three years in prison. If the citizen is her brother or parent the punishment is more severe. But there is so much money in the system that these sanctions are seldom used. A young woman can be sold to a Genelev for an amount between 860 and 4270 US dollars.
According to Leyla about half of the women she knew in the brothels had been sold by ""men in their lives"". Very few were there voluntarily. Leyla's best friend was 18 when she was invited to a restaurant and intoxicated with alcohol. She woke up in a Genelev as a registered whore.
""Once you're inside it is near impossible to escape. It is very simple: There is only one exit door, and anyways you immediately build up a huge depth,"" Leyla said.
She talked of the system employed by brothel owners to hold on to the women. The primary reason that so many of them are stuck for years is that sign contracts they cannot look through and which compel them to pay rent and charges to managers for cleaning, stamps for health examinations etceteras.
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To many Turks the nation's brothels are not all that bad. Another female sociologist, Prof. Ayse Salzmann from Ankara, admitted to me that ""horrifying breaches of human rights"" are taking place. But she maintained that public control keeps at bay the sort of crime connected with prostitution in Western countries and the spread of aids and other diseases.
Every brothel is in contact with a clinic that performs obligatory examinations of the health of the prostitutes every second week. If a woman has attracted a virus she is hospitalized for ten days for treatment - under strict limitations on visits and telephone calls. If she has acquired HIV the police is the first to be informed - before she is.
HIV positive women are usually sent away without treatment or counselling.
At the clinic in Istanbul a doctor said to me: ""We are psychologists, medical doctors, nurses, waiters and prison guards - all at the same time.""
He explained that venereal diseases and aids cannot be kept from spreading because many prostitutes bribe the police to avoid hospitalization. They would loose the income of an entire day.
Leyla succeeded in getting out because she got married and her husband paid her debts. At intervals Turkish newspapers publish happy stories of women who have been ""saved"" by a man.
To Leyla the system itself, its incredible cynicism and suppressive nature, is not the worst. It is not the work either that is the worst part of it, she stressed again and again, ""not sex 20 times in one day."" No, the worst is the total rejection from the rest of society when a woman at long last gets out.
""It is impossible to keep your profession a secret. We are unable to get inside society again. When we are inside a Genelev, we are outside Turkey. When we are outside, we are not humans but pariahs,"" she said angrily.
There are many examples that public security has formally been abolished with respect to prostitutes. Take for instance the punishment for rape. It is much smaller when the victim is a prostitute than if she is any other woman. Children of prostitutes cannot be employed at high positions in the army or police, and they cannot be married to anyone holding such positions.
Feride Acar explained to me:
""Prostitutes are always seen as scum. If a whore gets away from a Genelev and finds a different job, her past will resurface. She is registered right, left and middle. Her employer will sooner or later compare her data with the police records, and then she is fired.""
Things have become a little better lately, though. In Istanbul they have stopped registering ""private"" hookers, not so much due to respect for the woman than because of the fact that the new Islamist city mayors will have nothing at all to do with prostitution. And in a growing number of Kurdish towns the police refuses to register prostitutes and tries to make it easier to leave the brothels.
Still only one percent of the prostitutes return to society, at the most.
The law on prostitution in fact says that the women must be helped to ""abandon their corrupt life"" if they ""renounce prostitution"". But here aren't any public institutions to help them.
To Feride Acar the answer is obvious:
""The system wasn't made for the women but for the men. Turkish males are willing to use the brothels. It's convenient, inexpensive, and nobody really looks down upon men who buy sex. And then there are women of all types and shapes who are under health control, venereal diseases are suppressed etc. It really is convenient. - On the other hand most men hate the prostitutes. They conceive them as polluted even though it is obviously themselves who pollute them.""
Still Acar ended up introducing light and shade into her words:
""Of course the system is horrible and shameful. But as a sociologist I have to reconsider it and ask what would happen of there wasn't any open and inexpensive access to prostitution. Would the number of rapes make a significant rise? And do remember that the trade in women in the West is just as horrible. In Europe women end up in situations of dependency like here, with enormous debt to pimps and gangs, drug addicted etc. what is worst? If the standard of living in Turkish brothels was much higher, if we treated the women as human beings, I might prefer our system to your chaos." (Review # 685)
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