Even in the scariest times, when I am far away, I am reminded that I always have a home in the United States. This is the story of one of those times. In the summer of 2016, my family and I traveled to our familial home in Turkey. I was staying with my grandmother in a nice house which was near the heart of the city of Istanbul, near the Bosporus Strait. On that day, I was with my mother and my cousins. It was a hot day, about 30 degrees Celsius (89 degrees Fahrenheit), so we decided to go to the beach. We anticipated a fun day of beach time and maybe some shopping and eating out later. We were totally unaware of what was to come that night.

At just ten years old, I was particularly ready and excited for the beach that morning. After a great time swimming, playing volleyball, and getting food with my cousins, it was a quality time; then we got a call from my mom to come home. We returned home and got ready to go out; Turkey has great cafes and places to walk around. After the long beach day, I was energized and ready to go. We went out, spending time at the best places in town, drinking Turkish tea and gossiping about the things going on in the area. Night came and then I got tired, so my mother returned home with me. She tucked me into bed. Soon after, I was awakened by sounds of helicopters and jets flying over. My mother was watching TV and she quickly switched it to a news channel. There was a report of unsanctioned military activity nearby. We sat there and watched TRT, the main news channel in Turkey, showing scenes of the agency being stormed and the reporters being taken hostage. It was propaganda to try and keep what was going on away from the people of Turkey. In the constitution of Turkey, it is written that the military has power to overthrow an unlawful leader and a government; the news agency was reporting that the military had taken over fully to reinstate constitutional order. Martial law was established. My mother wasn’t as worried as I was because she knew that in the history of Turkey a rebellion such as this had happened before: in 1960 and again 1980. Since she was alive in 1980, she had seen this before, firsthand.

Next, on a Facetime call, the President of Turkey called one of the reporters of CNN Turkey and told the people to be strong and that together we would overcome this event. Thousands of citizens flooded the streets of Turkey to try and stop what was going on. I was terrified and did not know what to do, but my mother kept reassuring me. People were flooding the streets and we heard an explosion. The news reported that a military helicopter had been shot down over the nation’s capital, Ankara. That was when it all took a traumatic turn for me. People were yelling right outside my window, and I saw people flooding the streets and people being shot at and blown up. There were also reports of soldiers surrendering and giving up their weapons. Towards morning, the military surrendered to the people and the police took over. Later, reports showed that 300 people had been killed and more than 2,100 had been injured in the night. In the days following, I was scared to even leave the house. I was paranoid even walking outside. My mother took me to a doctor who provided medicine to take; that made me feel a lot better. In the end, I was just so ready to go back to my home in America.

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