Is my dad going overboard? Is my plan a good idea?

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I've wanted to go to Turkey this summer by myself, by the way I'm 15, and a I'm a guy. I wanted to go but my dad said it would be a bad idea because he thinks that because I footsied my cousins (who were girls), and because I had an argument with my female cousin who's 13, since she wasn't paying attention to me, and my uncle was violent with me so i attacked him and he beat me up, and because I used to be a pedophile (who NEVER acted upon his urges) he thinks that i'm going to end up getting arrested. He says instead of locking me up in a mental hospital, they'll lock me up in jail first, and I'll have no rights compared to in the U.S., and my relatives won't understand my condition. (Asperger's Syndrome, ADHD, OCD, and Bipolar, and what my dad perceives to be still pedophilia.). But I'm not a pedophile anymore, and even though I attacked my uncle I learned my lesson and alot has changed since then, I've even been locked up in 3 mental hospitals for a 1-3 weeks each time, so that DEFINITELY taught me a lesson, and I've been doing fine. What do i do?

By the way, I speak the language well, but not fluently.

First off, I have four kids, 24, 20, 19 and 17. I've always pretty much let them do most things they wanted. I'm one of those laid back moms that aren't overprotective about very much, except swimming which I hate and they are fish at so I can't really say much now about it, but I've always pretty much said yes to them when they wanted to go somewhere or do something. I wouldn't let any 15 year old go to Turkey. It's TURKEY! You can go to prison in Turkey for looking at somebody wrong and then you'll be stuck there forever. I wouldn't even go to Turkey!

Why Turkey? Who would you be going with? Who is supposed to pay for this? How long would you be gone? Why Turkey? I'd want to know those answers first.

Then I'd point out a few other things. I don't think your dad is saying it because of particular things you did, but because of an overall maturity level. Again, it's TURKEY.

As for the pedophile thing, you fall into the category of people who would be victims of pedophiles so what do you mean? Liking younger girls like 11 or 12? Thats a pretty common age group pair up because guys are usually a few years older than their girlfriends and my oldest daughter who is 20 now is engaged to a guy that is 24 and they have been together since she was 13 and he was 17. When she was 14 and he was 18 he would have legally been a pedophile, but he's not. Now, if you mean little kids then I'd really suggest you go get help for that, but if you mean the normal age differences with couples, I wouldn't worry about that because as you get older then so will the girls you like.

Also, if you have been in the mental hospital against your will, I really wouldn't suggest Turkey. Whats wrong with Gulf Shores or Panama City for a week or something? Gatlinburg, Hilton Head, New Orleans even, but not Turkey.

I think your dad is right about this. One kid of mine has been out of the country, once and that was my oldest daughter when she went on that cruise with her fiance when she was 17 and he was 21. His parents and sisters went too, and we had to sign and notarize a paper giving his parents permission to authorize medical care of her and give them temporary custody of her for the duration of the cruise. They went to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and some place in Mexico. Thats where he proposed to her and they got engaged. But even then I was nervous. She was on a boat (see my thing about swimming above, it's even more of a fear of the ocean than the lake and the river) and they went out of the country. I was a nervous wreck the entire time and she was a very mature and responsible 17 year old and with two adults, her boyfriend who was a legal adult, and his five sisters who were all adults except for the youngest who was 12.

I'd love to go to Paris or to Italy or Spain or England or Ireland or Scotland. I might let my kids go there if they wanted to when they were under age and had the money for it and went with somebody who I felt was appropriate. I'd let the boys go to Amsterdam if they wanted to and the same conditions applied. Those places won't lock you away or kill you over nothing. I'm sure there are other countries I might let them go to like that too. Mexico would not be one though. Neither would any place in South America or Central America or the Middle East or the Orient or Russia or any place that was in the Soviet Union. I do not trust those places or their governments. The boys have had some legal trouble but I'd still let them go to the places I named above, because I think they would be ok there. None of them has had any mental trouble though so I think if they had I'd be hesitant to let them go someplace out of the country because you never know what might happen in a foreign country. So, I do agree with your dad. A Turkish prison isn't where you want to spend the next 20 years while your family goes broke paying lawyers to fight for your extradition.

my relatives live in Turkey. And just because its a Muslim country doesn't mean you can get arrested for looking at someone wrong.

In order to go to Turkey alone, you'd have to get a letter from at least one of your parents granting you permission to go alone. Turkey is a pretty secular Muslim country--it's not Saudi Arabia. It's very dangerous in the eastern part of the country, though.

Still, you have to get that permission.

Because it's TURKEY! Have you never heard anything about Turkish prisons? Don't go to Turkey. Whats in Turkey anyway? What is the goal of this? You didn't answer anything I asked. If you are like that with your dad, no wonder he won't let you go.

Have you ever watched Locked Up Abroad? You're not savvy about the culture or customs and you could break one of their laws unwittingly.

Western Turkey isn't that bad. There's lots of historical significance there. There's also the beaches of the western coast--in places like Izmir. Istanbul is beautiful--it's easy to get lost there, though. It's not a heavily fundamentalist-Muslim country, especially in Istanbul, which is a relatively cosmopolitan city. Eastern Turkey is problematic, though.

The problem is that the OP is 15 years old. There's no doubt that he'd need a letter from one of his parents allowing him to go alone. This is true for almost all countries. There is much concern over child abduction throughout the world.