Monday 24 May 2010

Border control

Last night Mustafa and I drove from Istanbul to the border with Bulgaria. I need to get rid of the lorry from my passport otherwise I'll have a problem when I try to leave from Antalya port where we need to depart with the group. In order to do this in time to catch up with the group we had to book an internal flight from Istanbul to Antalya for tonight. I need to get to a lorry park just inside Bulgaria. At the moment we are sitting in the border cafe where there's free wifi. We are waiting while Customs try to arrange to get the deposit back I made when I came in with cargo. This is about £600, and its taken since 8am until now 12pm to get any sort of progress. Thankfully I have Mustafa who can speak Turkish. We have met with a lot of supportive individuals sympathetic with Palestine.

Last night we ended up sleeping in a beautiful masjid next to the border. It was totally empty and peaceful.























The rest of the group set off in coaches from Istanbul and have now reached Antalya. Before leaving we had an orientation meeting with IHH and signed our waiver forms.

IHH meeting








Later on...
By 9pm we still haven't left Turkey Bulgaria border to try to rejoin the team. It was a mistake coming to such a major border last night. There were lines of trucks and the staff who were on when we got there were not authorised to help with returning deposits so we had to wait until the morning. That seemed fine until it has now taken all day and significant physical exertion and still no deposit. Despite getting to the Turkish Custom Directors office in good time (before 9am) and a good start with him including tea, chat, agreements etc - by the end of the day all I have is a letter to take to a bank. The one good thing is that the lorry is off my passport and parked in Bulgaria safely. On the way to the border some lorry drivers there told us about a truck park 20km inside Bulgaria run by a Turkish man called Ilyas. It seemed straightforward but took hours. On the border ,which is large with many booth/ offices, we seemed to ping pong between people for the entire morning while everyone decided whether or not we could in fact get the money back here. A helpful lady in an upstairs office said yes of course we can get it here, however she did not herself pick up the telephone to the original customs office on the Greek border. Communications were duly sent off and fax confirmation received back. Then a letter had to be drafted up by grumpy men who didn't want to, multiple copies of these had to be made and signed by the Director, having completed everything we were told 30 minutes, then 20 then when we returned everyone disappeared for lunch! Because of time constraint we have to make the decision to make a break out of the Bulgarian side with the vehicle - to park it up and return for the deposit. Perhaps by then the paperwork will be done... First need to put a bit more diesel in. At the pumps in the middle of the border I try to fill but the man says these pumps are for full lorries. We have to move on. We get to Bulgarian Customs with nothing to declare. They want to have a look. Their approach is pretty casual, they tear off a piece of paper from a scrap in the cab, stamp it, ask me to write the reg plate down and join a queue, they don't take any money we are in EU now. Passing through the Bulgarian border vehicles are given a usb stick - with each check, weight, passport, customs more info is added and the final officer takes the stick back. When we get out into Bulgaria we stop at the diesel shop. When we try to put some fuel in I can see I've dropped the diesel tank lid somewhere in no-man's land, this is extremely annoying. I think it must be near the last station and think it might be worth going to have a look - the girls in the shop lend me a bike so I cycle back through the border much to the amusement of all the officers. No diesel lid. So we have to put a band over some plastic over the tank and leave. Luckily the Tomtom is working again now and the address the drivers gave us for parking comes up. The town is called Ljubimets and we struggle a little bit to find the place.









Eventually we find it and park up the small lorry amongst all the other big ones. I truck driver offers us a lift to the border. As we approach Turkey again the truck has to join a 3 km long queue - I have an hour to get back to the customs office so I leave Mustafa in the cab with the driver and strike out on foot.
Vodka doctor's shop in Bulgaria








I get back to the border and to the office in 50 minutes so manage to catch them before closing. However instead of the cash I have been given a letter for a bank where I'm told I now need to go to pick it up. Well this is great! five past five and no bank will be open and a 7.30am flight to catch to Antalya from Istanbul - useless. I speak to the cashier on the border but he can't help - why the cashier could not have been included in the process 5 hours ago I have no idea. So he says I can use the letter another time. Time to make a move to Istanbul.

Mustafa and I eat some fast food from the centre on the pavement next to the passport control. A taxi driver is trying to persuade us we need to get a ride to Edirne and catch a but from there - however I would prefer a lift if possible. By chance a driver with a large load of pieces of lorry is passing and he says he will take us - his name is Biren. We have an hour or so before setting off so I make the most of the showers available in the truck stop and get completely scrubbed and changed. I have been camping, running, walking and cycling today so this is completely needed. Mustafa is not well. He is dehydrated, has a cold, is fatigued and has walked across the border with our things himself. Biren gives us his cab keys while he sorts out customs paperwork - he is also very interested and supportive of the Freedom Flotilla and was curious when he saw me earlier cyling and wandering about the border looking crazy.
Biren's lorry that customs won't let through due to one letter on one machine not being correct







Customs have something up their sleeve for Biren as well - inspecting his vehicle they identify that one of the seven or so machines loaded onto his lorry has one letter wrong on the paperwork. One letter! They won't let him go. Despite this he calls a friend and by 11.30 he has swapped into a different cab and moves us with him. Mustafa can hear him in Turkish saying to the customs officer 'are you trying to kill me I need to get these people to the airport'. I can't believe how he is in fact more concerned about us than his cargo! Amazing. We hit the road and on the way stop at a truck stop for food along with his friend Zach - they both share place and work from Brussels and I can speak French with Zach. After the stop I go in Zach's cab and we can chat for a while - he then suggests I sleep on the cab bed for a bit - this is most welcome as the exertion has tired me out today.

During the day Murat from Istanbul phone shop has been in touch with Mustafa to check how things are going. He insists he and his brother are going to meet us when the trucks get into Istanbul and pick us up. True to his word he arranges a rendez vous point with Biren and at 2am I am woken from the cab and put into a car. We go to Murat's brother's home a wonderfully tidy spacious flat. Murat's sister in law Emine and nephew Ercan are up as well and we are given herbal tea with honey, lemon and biscuits, its clear Mustafa is under the weather and is suffering from a head cold as well as exhaustion. They put us to bed - out instantly.

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