Expats who want to spend their summer holidays in Türkiye travel thousands of kilometers from various European countries and enter the homeland through Kapıkule Border Gate.
Expats, who do not care about the scorching heat and the fatigue of the long journey, set out to relieve the longing for home that has not subsided for years, to reunite with their loved ones and to experience the happiness of being reunited with the Turkish flag and the sound of adhan.
Kapıkule Border Gate, Türkiye's largest land border gate opening to Europe, experiences a density of expatriates during the summer season. Expats coming from many European countries, especially Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Austria, sometimes create crowds at the border gate.
Expats who plan their annual leave months in advance, while experiencing the joy of reaching Türkiye after a journey of thousands of kilometers, express that it is an indescribable feeling to see the Turkish flag and hear the call to prayer at the first moment they enter the border gate. Expats say that they forget their road fatigue as soon as they pass the border gate, and their first stops are their family elders, relatives and hometown.
Expats, who said that although they spent their years in Europe, their hearts were always in Türkiye, stated that they would both make time for their loved ones during the holiday and satisfy their longing for their homeland by traveling to different cities of Türkiye.
Canan Tarter, an expat who lives in Belgium and went to her hometown Denizli to see her loved ones for the summer holiday, said, "Let's appreciate our country. It is not possible to describe the excitement we experience and the trembling of our feet from the moment we enter our homeland. We truly have a magnificent country. It is a wonderful feeling. Thank God a thousand times for bringing us to our homeland. Alhamdulillah, we have not been able to come for two years. I thank God a thousand times for giving us this feeling again. The joy of this." It is indescribable. I have experienced this feeling with all my children, and now I am passing it on to my two little ones. If God permits, that flag will always be ours. It is a little difficult, but our homeland is worth everything. Everything is worth it. As long as our health allows, we will visit all our spouses, friends and relatives, and we will continue our holidays this way.
"Even though our body is in Europe, our soul is in our homeland"
Faruk Aksu, one of the expats who set off from France with his family by car and entered Türkiye with homesickness, stated that he will go to his hometown Muş after visiting his relatives in Bursa, and said, "The moment when our emotions are the most intense is when we come from Bulgaria and see the Turkish flag. We experience great excitement and joy when we see the flag. We feel the happiness of reunion at that moment. We experience the most beautiful and intense emotions when we see our flag. We will visit our family in Türkiye, we will tour our homeland, We will visit our spouse, our friends and our relatives. Then, hopefully, we will go on a tour of the East to get to know our state and homeland better. When we tell our friends and relatives here about Europe, they do not fully understand us. When we talk about the difficulties there, they do not want to believe it. Even though our body is there, our soul is here. "in our homeland," he said. - EDIRNE