Man Sexually Assaulted By Security Guard In Turkish Airlines Lounge

OMAAT reader Ivan shared a bizarre experience with me, whereby he was sexually assaulted in a domestic Turkish Airlines lounge by a security guard… with multiple interactions! He asks for my take on this, and I find this to be so shocking that I’m not even sure what to think.

Predator security guard in Turkish Airlines lounge Kayseri

At around 4PM on July 4, 2026, Ivan was traveling out of Kayseri, Turkey (ASR). Let me just share his claims in full, since I want to be as accurate as possible:

My family (wife and two kids) and I were in the Turkish Business Class Lounge at the airport. I’m not sure how familiar you are with Turkish domestic lounges, but the ones we visited had their own security and agents, apart from the main terminal. After we were seated, I noticed there was an issue with our connecting flight in Istanbul, so I went to clear up the matter with the agent in the lounge.

When I exited the doors to discuss the issue with the agent, I realized that the agent was not there. There were two security agents nearby, and the male security agent must have seen a confused look on my face, and must have thought I needed to use the the bathroom. I told him three times that I did not need to use the restroom, I need to talk to an agent.

At this point he stood up and walked over to me. When he got near me he asked what I needed. At this point he got very close to me but I didn’t think much of it, as I assumed he was trying to look at my tickets. At the same time, I felt a hand or something brush against the front of my pants, and I backed up. Again, I thought this was an accident, and it wasn’t intentional. This was all happening in a wide open space that was within eye shot of the other security person, a female, if she were paying attention, so I had no reason to think it was malicious.

The next thing that happened, which I then began to question internally, was that he got closer while looking at our tickets. One hand was near the tickets in my hand, as I was explaining what was going on, and the other hand was down near my crotch, and he had a finger pressed against my private area.

I thought to myself, “ok, this is strange but I don’t want to make a scene here because I’m just trying to fly to the beach with my family and I just need this sorted out.” This entire interaction lasted about one to two minutes, and the the Turkish agent was back and we got all of our ticketing issues sorted out. 

That brings us to the second interaction, which happened just shortly thereafter:

After that interaction, I went back to join my family in the lounge, and didn’t make mention of it, since it was odd and brief and not worth alarming my wife about, though in hindsight I should have said something. About 15 minutes before boarding, I figured it’d be best to use the bathroom in the lounge before getting on the flight.

The way the lounge is set up, you have to “leave” the lounge to use the bathroom, but it’s before the business class security station ,and the bathroom is right next to the security station. The airport is very small, so security doesn’t have much to do most of the time. I walked out of the lounge and walked towards the bathroom, passing the security station in the process. As soon as I walked by the security station, I noticed the male security agent stand up and walk towards the bathroom.

At this point I thought it was weird, but it got really weird right after that. The main door to the bathroom was propped open, not too dissimilar to bathrooms all over the world. After I walked in the main door, the security guard came in after me, maybe five seconds or so later, and closed the door behind him. This bathroom was small, two urinals and two stalls. When he came in, he closed the door, and I immediately got nervous and knew I was in a bad situation.

As I was standing at the urinal attempting to do my business, I noticed him behind me checking to see if anyone was in any of the stalls. At this point I was frozen and did not know what to do. After he realized that no one was in the stalls, he goes to the urinal next to mine. The urinals have those half walls so that you can’t really see anything below the shoulder/neck of the person next to you. He puts his chin on the half wall and looks at me, down there. I did not look over at him or make any eye contact. I was thinking to myself, “how in the hell am I going to get out of this situation?”

Maybe about 20-30 seconds into this encounter another passenger walks into the bathroom, and by the time the other passenger comes around the corner, the security agent “zipped up” and was on his way over to “wash his hands.” I had an immediate wave of relief come over me, and was unbelievably happy that someone else walked in and saved me from whatever was about to happen. They had no idea. For what it’s worth, I did not use the bathroom at all. Once I realized what was going on, nothing was happening and I just stood there. In hindsight, the security agent was probably wondering what was going on since he was so into what I was doing. 

Then when he returned to the lounge, here’s the conversation he had with his wife, along with the questions he asks me:

I walked back to the lounge and told my wife EVERYTHING. I told her about both interactions, and she was shocked, pissed, floored, and wanted to do something about it. I told her that I didn’t even end up going to the bathroom at all, and the reasons for it. She asked if I wanted my son (13) to go with me so that I could use the bathroom, but I told her no, because if he was that brazen to do that to me, I don’t want him anywhere near my son.

She asked why I didn’t say or do anything, and my response was that we’re not in America. Every country has different rules. I dont know what would have happened I stepped up to the guy. Perhaps we were in a country where they heavily side with security and any mention from to authorities that I did anything wrong could result in my being in jail or detained for a few days. If this occured in the US, I would have most likely told him off during the first interaction, and definitely in the second interaction. 

Lastly, I looked up reporting it to Turkish authorities, but wanted to wait until after I left the country. It’s not a straightforward process so I just let it go. How would you have handled this situation? Although it was traumatizing and infuriating, I think I handled it as best I could, based on the factors mentioned above, especially the fact that I was traveling with my family and we were in a foreign country. This guy is a predator and I know for a fact that he has done this before, and will do it again. It’s extremely unfortunate but not sure what can be done about it.

How does one even approach a situation like this?

I think Ivan handled this situation incredibly well, all things considered. A few initial thoughts come to mind:

• I can see how at first Ivan thought the situation was strange, but didn’t want to draw any conclusions, but when the second incident played out, there was no denying what was going on here
• I agree with Ivan that if the details in this post are as presented, this wasn’t the first time that this guy has done something like this
• I don’t blame Ivan for being cautious about reporting this to authorities, especially when traveling with family in a foreign country, because who knows how they’d respond, especially in a country where you’re not so familiar with the laws, the approach police take in such situations, etc.

I think I would’ve handled the situation the way Ivan did, and I don’t think I would’ve tried to get “authorities” involved, since I could see situations where that wouldn’t end well for me. I think Ivan is taking the right approach here — he’s sharing his story after leaving the country, and I’m writing about it, and hopefully this gets forwarded to the right person to be addressed (or maybe I just get banned from Turkey, I dunno).

Not to be crass, but one certainly wonders what made Ivan so special, that the security guard seemingly became obsessed with touching and/or seeing Ivan’s “privates.” Ivan shares with me that he’s African American — I can’t help but think that maybe this contributed to the security guard’s “intrigue.” That’s the best theory I can come up with, at least.

Bottom line

A traveler had a completely unacceptable interaction in a domestic Turkish Airlines lounge in Turkey. First a security guard in the lounge touched his crotch twice, and then when he went to the bathroom, the security guard followed him in, closed the door behind him, and stood there, looking over the urinal divider at his “privates.”

This doesn’t seem like the behavior of someone who has never done something like this before. At the same time, when you’re in a foreign country, it’s tough to know how to handle this situation, especially when you’re going up against a security guard.

All I can do is bring some attention to this, and hopefully someone takes action, because this guy obviously poses a risk to others.

What do you make of this Turkish Airlines lounge assault?