Just finished my Turkey circuit. Rode as far east as Mardin, Hatay or (Antakya), Midyat and then north to the Van Lake, Aflat, Dogoubayazit. Then across to Erzurum and further north to Trabzon (Black Sea).

Unfortunately I had to miss out Diyarbakir, the old parts were declared a World Heritage Sight. But I suppose that now looks more like Syria. The warring parties have destroyed very much, I was told. Probably the curfew would have kept me out anyway.

Only travelling by daylight I felt safe all the way - in spite of the heavily fortified military camps and police stations. The roadblocks weren't interested in me ;o) and never even checked my documents. So IMO there is no direct danger, riding along the roads in the East - except for traffic hazards

The only negative experience was when leaving the country for Greece. The border control officers were friendly, but sent me aside to have my luggage checked. Now, this was a different story! Those guys were extremely unfriendly, ripped the luggage out of the panniers and just chucked it around. I had to hand out my bike documents, which they didn't hand back to me, but tossed them in-between my luggage, which I didn't see. So when I politely asked for the documents the one guy just barked at me: "We have no papers. You have!" and slammed the door. All I could do was to knock and tell the guys that I couldn't carry on without. Since he knew where they were he barked again "Open!" and pointed at the panniers, ripped out the luggage and - lo - there were my documents. I gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder, but he hit away my hand and told me to bugger off.

Which I did....

__________________
Only when we pause to wonder
do we go beyond the limits of our little lives.
(Rod McKuen)