The Theater

The Theater 

  After a great play was staged four years ago by the government in Turkey, I felt like that I fell down on top. It was a self-coup which means the government did it to silence dissidents. Because of this, I compare it to theater. The government carried out a successful theater, and it paved the way for its unlawfulness. My family’s hard life became before the self-coup because some illegal practices started, and it continued increasingly. Before the self-coup, my father lost his job, but a court returned my father to his job because there was still law in Turkey. One night after the self-coup, hundreds of people were fired with a new law. My father was one of them, so he lost his job again. At the end of the theater, some of them had to leave their country like my father. The self-coup created a domino effect in my old family and my new family because I just got married at this time.  

                                                                                                                                                                   

One of the most important effects was that my mother and my brother were not safe. My father went to Nigeria alone, but the language was very hard for him. Because of this, he decided to dwell in the U.S. I didn’t live with my family at that time, but I had to go to see my family because many people who were fired like my father were arrested every day, and their homes were searched by the police. We were constantly watching news on the TV because the government was constantly changing the law to be able to do this. In my country, there is still no law and no democracy, and my family and I can’t go back. Before the coup, my family was living in an apartment that was provided by the government, but the government took us out of this house.We lived with the fear that we will be arrested every day. We couldn’t go to my father because our passports were confiscated. After many tries, we got new passports, and my mother and my brother moved to the U.S.

                           

 On the other hand, the political theater gave me a big burden that was being like a father for our home. I went back to my hometown to support my mother and my brother three mounts after the coup. I was at the best place in my education. I had just graduated from university and started a job as a trainee lawyer. Meanwhile, they needed my financial and moral support. After the coup, I couldn’t find a job in my hometown because of my father’s status. It was hard time for me because we needed money. Many schools in Turkey were closed, and one of them was my brother’s school. He suffered because he was excluded from his new school. 

Finally, although we suffered the bad effects after of these terrible events, life can be full of surprises. The biggest surprise in my life came this period. My boyfriend won a green card from the lottery at this time, and it was like finding water in the desert. Normally, we didn’t think and want to live a foreign country because life was very beautiful and shiny for two fresh lawyers like my husband and me before this period. However, Turkey became like an open-air prison after the coup, and everything and everyone are still under the supervision of the government. Although we have been living in the U.S, we still have the same fears in our dreams. 

There is a phrase in Turkish, and it is that pain which doesn’t kill makes people strong. The theater gave this kind of pain to many people like my family and me. The government wrote this play and starred itself for its own benefits. The effects of the self-coup influenced my family. Although it is an event to write about, it was hard to live. However, I couldn’t imagine that I can write this in English. I hope life always gives surprises to people like my surprise.