No one knows this about me
But I accidentally led my friends headfirst into the Turkish military coup.
In early May 2016, I booked a two-week holiday at a resort in Antalya, Turkey, along with three friends. We had been thinking of doing this for a while, and Turkey seemed just right. The online brochure boasted of the water slides lined up against the sea, the local cities to explore, the hotel facilities and dining experiences, as well as the range of bookable excursions. It looked to be an exciting adventure, yet reassuringly peaceful. The sea was a pure shade of blue and the tropical foliage relaxingly picturesque. We booked the holiday on May 11th, and it was not long after this that I developed that cynical voice inside my head, which was determined to share with me every reason why I should worry about this trip.
So, on Thursday 7th July, I found myself boarding a plane at Gatwick. At 07:40am it would take off, and I would be moved miles away from my parents. This thought terrified me. I was not just being taken away from my parents, but from the people who care of and protected me the most. My friends and I would have to be the adults for two weeks; we were responsible for ourselves. This worry disappeared as soon as Turkey’s Turquoise Coast came into view. It was beautiful. Within minutes of our arrival at Antalya Airport at 13:50pm, there was no discernible way to separate the sky from the sea. We could enjoy ourselves, and this is exactly what we did on the 15th July, when we travelled to the city of Alanya. This all changed that evening, as the rumblings of the attempted military coup shook me.
Friday 15th July, 19:30 (GMT) / 22:30 (MEST): Military blockade major bridges over the Bosporus, Istanbul
We all had an early night. I always struggled to sleep, because the friend who I shared my room with insisted that the television was kept on all night. She never watched it, and it wasn’t her intention to. She just found the background noise comforting. I, however, could not stop watching it. Turkish Deal or No Deal, or, Var Misin? Yok Musun?, was the most interesting and easiest to follow along with. As a rule, my friend would never let the news channel be put on, giving the following reason: ‘in case something goes wrong’.
This put me in a difficult situation when something did go wrong. In fact, when something went very wrong. The first sign of what was to come came at around 22:30pm when my phone sent a beam of light into the darkness of the room, illuminating the ceiling akin to the Bat-Signal. It was my mum; she was calling me. I wondered why. Had she got the time zones muddled, perhaps? To add to my confusion, when I answered the phone, it was my Dad. He was speaking fast and sounded concerned. He told me that members of the army had been seen moving through Istanbul, and were purposefully causing traffic congestion into the city. Moreover, that jets had been seen over Ankara, along with reports of gunfire. I am unsure why, but I reassured him that they were exactly that — ‘reports’. I was clearly nervous, and unsure what to do.
Friday 15th July, 20:00 (GMT) / 23:00 (MEST): Declaration read on TRT claiming that the military have ‘completely taken over the administration of the country’
By this point, my three friends and I were all in the same room. We were unsure of what was going on because there were so few pieces of information to inform us. And, unfortunately, with every piece of information we did receive, the picture became even more bleak. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter had all been blocked, and when searched for would prompt an official looking pop-up to appear bearing a military emblem. We had heard rumours of soldiers storming broadcasting offices and tanks surrounding parliament. But they remained exactly that –rumours. This was until a news anchor on the Turkish state-run news channel TRT calmly read a statement which asserted that the military had overthrown the government and Martial Law was in practice and a curfew imminent. I would only learn after that the words that I was hearing were being forced from the anchor at gun point.
So, how is this my fault, and how did I lead my friends into this coup? We were originally going to go to Izmir on the west coast of Turkey, and on a different set of dates. I was too lazy, however, to leave my house on the day they wanted to book the holiday. This meant that when we did book the holiday, all that was left was Antalya, and a set of dates which would coincide with the military coup.
