Interview with Turkish Immigrant Seyithan

19-year-old Seyithan has two lenses through which he sees the world: One informed by his Turkish heritage and birthplace Instanbul, and the other influenced by the United States, his home since age six. This split understanding is a common quality among anyone who has made a home in two different parts of the globe, but no two stories of immigration are the same, except for the fact that they all are worth a listen. In this interview, Seyithan shares a snippet of his experience as a Turkish-American.

Our conversation includes details of his childhood neighborhood, his family’s reasons for moving, and both the excitement and discomfort in starting life in a new country. He also discussed his reaction to the past summer’s attempted coup in Turkey, in which the military tried to overthrow the government at the expense of many innocent lives.

My question about the coup sparked the longest part of our discussion, so I left in only the points he brought up were specific to his experience, and I thought were the most important to hear directly. The audio that I cut out is an explanation of Seyithan’s political stance, which I believe can be summarized without compromising his voice.

Seyithan says that he first heard about the coup from CNN, but formed his understanding of what happened largely from his family’s personal accounts of the events and his own research. He explains that Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim religious leader, rose in power and provoked the military to take action after gaining the trust of many Turkish people through public service based in Islam. Seyithan feels that although Fethullah Gulen did do many good things for the public, his motivations were ultimately selfish in using religion as power. His trust lies in the administration of Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

I do not know enough about the nuances of Turkey’s politics to feel comfortable expressing a solid opinion about my stance on the failed coup. I do, however, know that the simplified depictions of Turkey’s coup is a prime example of how American mainstream media erases the complexity of affairs in the Middle East. CNN first and foremost must fulfill the demands of its audience’s short attention spans and desire to be entertained. Americans should take Seyithan’s lead in always doing further investigation into what the news quickly flashes across our screens.

Above is another recording in which Seyithan talks about some of his favorite items from Turkey: A painting of the Galata Tower in Istanbul, a tea cup, an evil eye wall hanging, and Turkish money (pictured below).