Ankara and Diyarbakir

Today we visit a huge mosque and a castle overlooking all of Ankara. I tell Eda about my plans to go to Diyarbakir (city in eastern Turkey) and Iraq and she says "Yeah. Good luck with that." and she shows me a website with recent terrorist attacks in Diyarbakir. Eda thinks I will die before I reach the Iraqi border. Or at the very least at the border itself. But she gives me some advice: "Don't ever mention the word 'Kurdistan'. You'll get into trouble."

Due to religious holiday Bayram I'm not able to find someone to stay with in Diyarbakir and have to check into a hotel. I'm very disappointed to have to pay for accommodation for the first time in 41 nights. At the kebab place around the corner from my hotel I happen to sit down next to Bivar, an Iraqi Norwegian guy who's heading to Iraq tomorrow morning. He's already arranged a driver and everything and offers me to go with him to Dohuk. It wasn't where I intended to go, but he tells me he'll visit his old refugee camp and some other places along the way, so it sounds too interesting to say no. We leave tomorrow at 11am.

Mosque in Ankara.

View of Ankara.

Ankara and Diyarbakir

Diyarbakir, Turkey