Hours of anguish are being experienced by the family of the 78-year-old from Kozani, who disappeared while on a trip to Istanbul.

Relatives of 78-year-old Dimitri are in Istanbul searching for him, where his friends last saw him. His trail disappeared a few hours after they landed in Turkey last Thursday and went for a walk in Taksim Square.

“They arrived on Thursday. They went back to the hotel, they were told they have free time to do whatever they want,” said the 78-year-old’s granddaughter.

The 78-year-old’s granddaughter also arrived in Istanbul last night and is trying to get an update on the police investigation. A friend of her grandfather, with whom she would have shared a hotel room, described to Live News the last conversation she had with Mr Dimitri before his whereabouts were lost.

“We went to the hotel to drop things off and then we went to Taksim Square, there in Turkey and then we went to … he had eaten, we got a round to eat, he sat down next to him I said ‘sit down company, sit down’. “No,” he says, “I’m in a hurry to get to the room. I gave him the card and he says ‘I’m going to rest’.”

That was the last time she saw him. Although she tried to follow him, he was lost in the crowd. Then, his friends found that he never arrived at the hotel as he had told them and started looking for him.

“That’s where he was, it wasn’t even 120m from the hotel. There was a ‘break’ in the road. That is, one was going left and the other to the hotel. I started from behind to see where he was going, I lost him. It was very crowded. Then we looked for him, around there. Ten times we went round and round Taksim Square, nothing,” said the 78-year-old’s friend.

“He wanted to go to Pergamon”

The pensioners’ trip from Kozani has turned into a thriller, with the granddaughter of 78-year-old Dimitri revealing to Live News that his mobile phone was found in his hotel room, along with his belongings.

Both the Turkish authorities and the consulate were informed by the people in charge of the excursion and immediately began investigations.

“In the morning the driver and the guide who is over there called, they called the police, the consulate, that is, the police moved in afterward. And he says ‘I want to go to Pergamum someday,’ he said, on the way to me. He said the same thing to the tour guide. “Someday,” he says, “if there’s an excursion, I’ll go to Pergamum, too, to see my mother’s places. I don’t know. Do you think she ran off to Pergamum? What can I say?” said the 78-year-old’s friend.

Police are now trying to trace the 78-year-old through cameras in the area of Taksim Square and an alert has been issued to Interpol. However, his anguished relatives claim that he is a healthy man and are unable to explain his disappearance.

“So far we have not received a full report from the Turkish police. We have also taken all the necessary steps to open the cameras and see the path he has taken. We only know from the testimony of his friend and roommate in the room that he took the key and that he was going to the room to rest,” Dina Papadimitriou, daughter of the 78-year-old man,
said initially.

“All these days the consulate has been a help, as have the Turkish police. And my brother and my daughter who have gone to Turkey, the police are helping them and treating them in the best way,” Ms Papadimitriou added.

“The appeal we are making right now is for all travelers to be observant of the people around them,” she stressed.