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Political tensions between Turkey and Europe gain momentum and in the war of Erdogan against the E.U. leaders the European tourists find themselves in the line of fire.

Over the past days tourist discussion boards and sites have been filled with some disturbing messages from those who decided to visit Turkey and faced not only offensive behavior, but barbarous cruelty and lawlessness, violation of their rights and complete absence of any reaction on the part of Turkey's authorities.

Here are just a few of many examples:

1. Unlawful arrest of a Dutch tourist in Turkey who was threatened by the local police with assaulting him using batons. (http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/turkey-arrests-dutch-tourist.cfm)

2. On one of the Turkish resorts service personnel burst offences at European tourists and their children. (http://www.familjeliv.se/forum/thread/77510618-vart-har-ni-varit/3#m34)

3. Female tourist from Sweden was robbed by a taxi driver in Istanbul, lost all her money and credit cards, but instead of getting help the police accused her of illegal staying in Turkey. (https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-eastern-europe-the-caucasus/turkey/i-ve-come-for-advice-did-anyone-deal-with-turkish-police)

4. German woman became victim of a collective rape, but the police wasn't looking for the rapists, instead they accused the girl of prostitution and demanded money to set her free. (https://medium.com/@Aaron.Perry/maybe-a-few-years-ago-turkey-was-a-good-place-to-visit-but-not-today-cf12c376e1f#.8921hqkyx)

Besides, the popular Turkish resorts marked the beauty sights, parks, coffee-shops, clubs, etc. with signs that ban European tourists from entering those places.

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Quite predictably, the animosity in Turkey resulted in the petition that urges European authorities to remove Turkey from the list of countries that are safe for Europeans to visit and give official travel advice to avoid all travel to that country. (https://www.change.org/p/the-european-parliament-urge-the-eu-citizens-to-avoid-all-travel-to-turkey) Tourists that are currently staying in Turkey should be recommended to exercise a high degree of caution, avoid any public gatherings and when possible stay at their hotels. The E.U. consular missions in Turkey need to provide the E.U. citizens with full-fledged consular protection if necessary.

Obviously, the attacks against tourists have been politically motivated. Erdogan uses them to blackmail the E.U. However, Mr. Erdogan ignores the reputational and economic expenses that follow the loss of European tourists. Surely, Turkey will recover from that blow, but it will happen after the Turkish people finally dispose of Erdogan.