Johannesburg - “We started hearing multiple gunshots, fighter jets flying low and thought the worst, that the military was exchanging gunfire with citizens.”
This is how South African physiotherapist Rasheeqa Barodien, 28, described the chaos that reigned in Turkey during the failed military coup d’état in the country over the weekend.
At least 290 people were killed with over 1440 people injured during the fighting.
Barodien, who lives in Cape Town, and her friends had just returned to their apartment in Taksim from a tour of the Bosphorus Bridge an hour before the unrest started. “We couldn't believe that we would’ve been in the middle of the chaos.
“Later that night we heard what we thought were bombs dropping... That night felt liked the longest night ever, we couldn't fall asleep or eat. We felt like we just wanted to leave Turkey and return back to South Africa,” Barodien said, adding that she was still traumatised.
Over Saturday, she stayed indoors, too afraid to leave the apartment as she continued to fear for her safety.
Barodien said there was still a heavy police presence on the streets of Istanbul and that people were still celebrating the end of the failed coup.
She is still in Turkey, expecting to fly home on Monday night.
Chief executive of BMW Financial Services Clive Prevost, from Joburg, described the confusion in Istanbul following the failed coup. Prevost was on holiday with friends in Turkey and had landed in the country on July 15.
“We woke up (on Saturday) and everything in Istanbul itself was very quiet which was unusual because it’s usually buzzing especially at this time of year.
“We were staying in a hotel about 10km from the Bosphorus Bridge where it all began,” he said.
“Despite being quite close by we didn’t hear the booms or gunfire during the night but we did notice while we were eating dinner (on the rooftop) that the Bosphorus Bridge was not its usual colours,” Prevost explained.
On the day before the failed coup, Prevost said he’d noticed there were a lot of police around but because of the recent bombings at Ataturk airport he wasn’t surprised by this.
“It was business as usual; we did all the usual touristy things. We didn’t register that anything was about to happen."
On Saturday morning he noticed all the TV channels were out and, when a taxi came to pick them up, realised there was no traffic was the antithesis of the previous day.
“It was impossible to get around the day before and when we were driving to the airport that morning there were hardly any people or cars around, that’s when we realised something had happened.
"We were watching the action unfold around us but we felt removed from it."
On the road towards the airport, Prevost noticed abandoned military tanks along the way as well as outside the airport.
“The airport was chaos deluxe. There were at least 5 000 people blocking the entrance.
“There was shouting, screaming and cheering. People were very patriotic, chanting and waving Turkish flags while others sat on the side of the road eating their breakfast, there were also a lot of people with guns,” he recalled.
Airport staff weren't at work.
“Nobody knew what to do, all the flights were cancelled and the airport was a complete mess. There was no one advising us.
“It was strange because the airport stores selling drinks and food were operating normally,” he said.
After four hours of queuing and trying to find out whether he’d be flying to Portugal as originally planned, Prevost decided to check into a hotel near the airport.
“When we got there, it was incredibly hot inside… the manager explained that a lot of the windows had shattered because of the sonic booms from the jets that have flown over during the night.”
After a difficult 24 hours, Prevost finally managed to get onto a flight to Portugal on Sunday morning. He said things in Istanbul seemed relatively back to normal before leaving the country.