Oldcastle resident feigns Turkish identity to escape from Libya

Who could blame Don Getty if he decided to fly the Turkish flag, with its distinctive star and crescent, alongside the Canadian and Irish standards from the gates of his home at Oldcastle following his dramatic escape from the turmoil of Libya? For it was his split-second reply to a security guard at an airport departure gate that led to him securing a flight out of the embattled north African country. Although originally from Canada and a long-term resident of Ireland, he told the official at Tripoli Airport he was from Turkey and was allowed board a flight out of the country which has descended into turmoil. Mr Getty is an operations supervisor with North African Geophysical Exploration and stays in Libya for six to seven weeks at a time and then returns to his home at Oldcastle for four to five weeks. He arrived in Libya just as the recent protests against the country's ruler, Col Muammar Gadaffi, were beginning. He told the Meath Chronicle this week he had stayed on in Libya despite the demonstrations in the hope that he could "ride out the storm". His concern grew, however, particularly when the fighting reached Tripoli. "It was getting more tense by the day," he said. "It was getting scary there. There were gunshots going off and artillery fire. A few times, I got up in the middle of the night and dressed, expecting that I might have to get out, but then lay down again." He recalled: "Things moved very fast and then all the major airlines were closing down. The situation was degrading rapidly. I was 15 minutes from the airport and the ride there wasn't too bad. We hit a couple of checkpoints but they waved us through, probably because the rain was lashing down. The airport was like Armageddon. There was a sea of humanity there, that's the only way I can describe it, thousands of panicked people trying to get out." He said that his path to the airport and onto the plane was relatively smooth compared to other people's. "I met two Irish girls on the plne. They had stood in a queue for 12 hours and were soaked to the bone." Mr Getty was contacted by the Department of Foreign Affairs through his wife and advised to leave the country immediately. He said that a security guard opened a door leading to a departures gate and said: "Only Turkish citizens may enter." Getty stood up and said: "I'm from Turkey." He was unencumbered by luggage and got onto a flight to London Gatwick and then on to Dublin. "I left Libya with just the clothes on my back," he said. Relaxing at home in Oldcastle this week, he said that resumption of his work in Libya following the uprising there may prove to be problematic. "I don't see myself getting back in for some time. None of the oil companies will go back in there as long as Gaddafi is still in power and, if he goes, who is going to form the next government? You have the normal, well-educated, sound people but, on the other hand, you have these Taliban types who want to lock everybody inside and pray all day." And the big question? How does a man reared in the busy suburbs of Toronto end up settling in the quiet, rural Meath town of Oldcastle? "I first came over to Ireland in 1994, met my wife and never left." He said he and his wife drove 10,000 miles throughout Ireland searching for a place where they could settle down. "We'd drive into a town, drop into a couple of pubs, look at the amenities and see how we liked it. To be honest, when I lived in Canada, I used to drive through some hick towns and ask 'how does anybody live here?' but, having moved to Oldcastle in 1999, I wouldn't live anywhere else," Mr Getty added. He was profuse in his praise of the Irish Dept of Foreign Affairs for its help.