Irish Mohammed enjoys fame with free vacation, water offers

Becoming an overnight sensation in Turkey as well as his homeland was apparently not what Mohammed Fadel Dobbous had in mind when he traveled to Turkey for sightseeing. Nevertheless, after a video of the Irish-Kuwaiti tourist effortlessly and singlehandedly taking out a crowd of Turkish shopkeepers in a fight straight out of a martial arts movie emerged, he now indulges in newfound fame. Vacation offers, along with humorous offers for bottles of water in reference to the apparent cause of the fight, poured in for Dobbous, who has been stopped on the street by new fans taking photos with him.

When security camera footage shot on Aug. 1 showing the burly man taking out a crowd of assailants on an Istanbul street surfaced earlier this week, Dobbous, who was assaulted by shopkeepers angered over him accidentally spilling water bottles in a fridge, has become a phenomenon. Social media users heaped praise on the tourist who "heroically" stood against a legion of shopkeepers armed with sticks, chairs and a variety of objects hitting him repeatedly. He escaped the fight with a broken arm and a few bruises and dismissed claims of being a professional boxer, telling Turkish media he was simply a man going to the gym, though "a wrong man to mess with" for his assailants.

The incident caused a debate on the treatment of tourists in Turkey, which is known as home of a nation renowned for hospitality. An association of tourism businesses has now offered a free vacation for Dobbous. Murat Ersoy, head of the Turkish Association of Tourism Investors, said it was horrifying to see an Irish tourist be attacked by 15 shopkeepers and apologized to Dobbous on behalf of his association in a written statement.

Ersoy said they extended an invitation to Dobbous and his wife for a free vacation, either in Istanbul or the southern vacation resort city of Antalya. Ersoy called for a swift judicial process that would hand down appropriate sentences to the assailants involved in the attack on the tourist. "If not, we could witness similar incidents," he said, adding that the incident blemished Turkey's image as a safe country for foreign visitors.

A shopkeeper, meanwhile, apparently scared of Dobbous singlehandedly beating up a crowd of fellow shopkeepers, posted a photo on social media showing a fridge where he stored water bottles with a sign attached reading "free water for Irish tourists."

Faik Yılmaz, head of a trade association of Istanbul shopkeepers, called its members to be more "tolerant" and resort to legal means if they have a problem with tourists. Şenol Palan, who was seen in the video grabbing a stick as soon as Dobbous knocked down the neatly stored bottles and attacking him, defended himself, claiming the tourist was inebriated and argued when he told him he did not sell any alcoholic beverages, which Dobbous allegedly asked for. Yılmaz told Anadolu Agency that the association would hand out leaflets to shops in the Aksaray district of Istanbul where the incident happened, urging them to improve their manners with tourists.