Day 71 (Turkey): Ankara

So, with the package on its way and most likely taking until the end of the week, I figured I would try to work on my Azerbaijan visa here in Ankara instead of waiting until Tbilisi in Georgia. So we called the embassy in the morning, they told us to come by at 2pm. It is way out yonder actually, about 20km away from the center and the rest of the embassies. As Haluk and Guler had to run some errands, we combined the trips to a new development area which is full of embassies. Nice embassies at times - mostly with some semblance of their national heritage, but the area was also quite clearly lacking in true character.

Once we got there, the embassy was closed we found out. The security person really tried to get one of the Azerbaijan consular staff out, but they flat out refused despite having given us the 2pm time slot in the afternoon. So much for that. We should call. When? Right now. OK. Haluk calls. He is told to call back tomorrow morning! What??? This is all we can do, call back tomorrow is the answer. So, we are playing a stupid game. I figure I would join in the fun and it gets even more absurd. When I ask whether I can talk to someone in German or English, I am first transferred. Then the next person hangs up. Same question on the next call. And the next only to be bumped off by the first person. Just hung up. Alright, finally I talk to someone who does speak English. But he refuses to talk to me in English. “Only Turkish!” “But you understand me?” “Not a problem.” “Can I ask you some questions then?” “Only in Turkish.” “Are you kidding me?” “No, you can ask, but only in Turkish.” It was a bit frustrating. He clearly understood and spoke the language, but refused to speak in English. Yikes. I gave up. There are two more chances (there is a consulate in Kars and an embassy in Tbilisi) and that should be sufficient to get a hold of the visa. But ah … the power of consular staff.

Took this one of the busted rim … I will keep the smaller part as a memory.