Tourists from Russia detained in Turkey for reading the Bible told about the incident
Russian tourists Igor and Victoria Filonov, who were detained in Turkey, shared the details of the incident with Izvestia on July 18. The couple said they were faced with inhumane conditions in the detention center, ignoring questions about the possibility of contacting the Russian Consulate General, as well as a lack of information about each other's whereabouts.
"For the first time in 10 years, when we had our first child, we decided to relax together," Igor shared.
According to the tourist, initially they behaved calmly in the mosque — they stood in a corner so as not to disturb anyone, quietly read the Bible, because for them the Hagia Sophia is a shrine. However, the mosque reacted extremely aggressively to this, despite the fact that the guide had previously informed that the second floor was a museum complex and it was allowed to stay there. At first, several people started shouting at the couple, and then a crowd formed around her. Later, the tourists were handed over to law enforcement officers.
They were transported from one department to another throughout the day. In addition, the law enforcement officers asked provocative questions, but the Russians, realizing that they were being incited, refused to answer them. The tourists were sent to different departments, male and female, and their phones were also taken away.
"We were always amazed at how inhumanly people are treated, as if the people who live there <...> are some animals that are not intended for society," the Russian shared.
At the same time, the police ignored questions in English about the reasons for the detention and the possibility of contacting the consulate. Victoria added that their attempts to get at least some information were simply ignored. According to her, almost no one spoke English there.
"It was hard because no one provided any information. <...> That was the hardest thing when you don't know what's going to happen there in an hour, maybe two," Victoria said.
Despite the incident, the Russians said they still had a desire to travel. It is specified that they did not have similar problems in other temples, including in Turkey.
"In fact, this is a very useful situation, because a lot of things in life are overestimated and put in the right places. Because I realized for myself that I had a lot of wrong metrics in my life," Filonov concluded.
On July 15, the Russian Consulate General in Istanbul reported that a married couple from Russia had been sent to a deportation center after being detained in Istanbul's Hagia Sophia Cathedral. It was clarified that the local police had drawn up a protocol against the spouses under Article 216 of the Turkish Criminal Code ("Incitement to hatred or hostility among the population or humiliation").
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
