A night of chaos for Pakistani expats in Turkey

Pakistani community in Turkey shared its experience with us about the night of chaos which left almost 200 people dead

ISTANBUL: At 10:30pm, Shoaib Hasan, a programme editor at the state-owned TRT World, was working on a news bulletin when he heard about army tanks rolling into the city.

Shoaib, a Pakistani journalist, who had witnessed Gen Pervez Musharraf’s coup back home in 1999, immediately read the omens. “I was discussing it with my managing editor when we heard some gun-toting soldiers in combat gear had walked into the building,” he recalls.

Speaking Turkish, the soldiers told them to go off air, and queue up outside the office. Cellphones of the staff were seized, and they were told to leave the premises. As Shoaib made his way towards home, just across the Turkish military academy he could hear gunshots ringing out.



The Pakistani community in Istanbul shared its experience with The Express Tribune about the night of chaos which left about 200 people dead during a Turkish military faction’s attempted coup, thwarted by the Turkish people, who took to the streets and forced the soldiers to surrender.

Pakistanis in Turkey mainly comprise students studying in universities, businessmen and some journalists recently recruited by the state broadcaster.

Housewife Adeela Saleem, who has recently moved to Istanbul, recalled her family was having dinner at an Indian restaurant in a busy area Friday night, when the waiter told them to move to a safer area.

Once outside, she saw a massive traffic snarl-up. A cab dropped the family halfway to their destination because of a military roadblock. “On our way back home, we saw rush at grocery stores and ATMs,” Adeela said, noting people were patiently observing queues even in such a time.

“We got home but the next two to three hours were tense with fighter jets flying low over Istanbul, the sound of gunshots and an ear-splitting explosion. But we recovered quickly when the situation improved,” she added.

The mother of two, Adeela believed the Pakistani media spiced up the whole situation while foreign channels, like Al Jazeera, reported the events calmly.

Hamza Abbasi, a BBA student at Istanbul Aydin Unverisity, recalled he and other Pakistani students took shelter first at an apartment, and then at a hotel after being unable to reach their homes following the coup attempt.



About 800 Pakistani students study at different universities in Istanbul.

At the time of the coup, he said, he was at a street near Taksim Square. With the Uber driver cancelling their ride, Hamza and his colleagues were forced to seek shelter at a friend’s apartment near Galata Tower. Then they rented two rooms at a hotel since the apartment was not big enough to accommodate everyone.

Hamza also recalled hearing gunfire throughout the night, though he was unsure about the location of the explosion reported at Taksim.

The expats, however, complained the staff at Pakistani Embassy in Ankara and the Consulate General in Istanbul had been laid back during the episode. They issued an advisory about 12 hours after the coup attempt began.

The emergency numbers for Istanbul (0090-5325683413) and Ankara (0090-5059795393) were shared on the press information department’s official Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Amir, an embassy official, told The Express Tribune that he had only received one or two calls of people stranded at the airport, and he was trying to help but further details would be shared by the media cell.

Over 200 Pakistani passengers are stranded at Ataturk Airport, an official of the Pakistani embassy, Abdul Akbar, said on Saturday. ”Around 150 passengers were stranded since Friday evening while 50 more came in today.”



In Islamabad, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed his Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi to ensure all possible assistance to the Pakistanis at Turkish airports.

There were stranded as a large number of Turkish Airlines flights had been cancelled, delayed or rescheduled out of Istanbul and Ankara because of the attempted coup, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office.

Two officers deputed by the Pakistan Embassy and Consulate General in Istanbul are at the Ataturk airport to assist the Pakistanis there. They are in constant touch with Turkish Airlines to help facilitate the departure of these Pakistanis.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2016.