Moves and Counter Moves

by Jasmine Deetlefs (Australia)

I didn't expect to find Turkey

The long stretches of freshly created highway made for the smoothest drive I’ve ever been on. The seemingly endless road stretched from one side of the country to the other, almost as if it was the yellow-brick-road of the modern Turkish empire. As I glanced slide long, I could see a child-like thrill begin to swirl within my father’s rich blue eyes as he crept from 120km per hour to 130km and finally to a solid 140km. Our tiny rental Hyundai seemed to hurtle through time and space as it blasted down the O-5 Turkish highway. As we made our way from smoke and haze of the capital Istanbul to the historic and smaller secluded town of Selçuk, the richness of the country’s history was undeniable. Mediterranean vineyards and lush green rolling hills gave way to harsh desert plains and Goliath-like mountains. The scenery was something to remark, like the pages of the bible had the chance to breathe life right in front of our very eyes. Though the one thing we couldn’t seem to fathom was how empty and lonely the highway was. The road rolling beneath us seemed to become haunted as it solemnly and silently snaked throughout the lands. Hour after hour on the sleek and soundless tarmac, the eeriness began to settle in, churning curious thoughts within my mind. Despite the occasional Ferrari or Maserati that thundered past us at a million miles an hour, the highway was utterly uninhabited. The thrumming silence fractured as my father and I began discussing how outrageous it was to have a great highway like this, so empty. Heat beating down on us, we passed one town after the other under the merciless eyes of the middle eastern sun. I contemplated the little faded buildings. The terracotta roofs. The bell towers that clung to the slopes of those unforgiving mountains. I couldn’t help but imagine all the fathers and daughters who lived there, survived this harsh landscape. "This highway is built for an army” my father boldly stated, once again breaking the silence, and in that moment, I could see war histories and a thousand facts he’d read begin to unfold within his mind. It made me consider the divergence in nations, where I had come from, and where I now stood. A nation built on the foundations of tens of thousands of battles and wars; empires and uprisings. A culture ingrained with stories passed down from generation to generation. It made me think about the bigger wheels and cogs that had begun turning into place at that very moment. Moves and counter moves that had already been made by a handful of powerful people at the helm of the nation, often forgetting the fathers, daughters, mothers and sons that made up the country they had within their clutches. Moves that would determine the future course of prosperity, wars and education; even the future of this highway. So, as we continued our venture down the perfectly laid Turkish highway, we could hear nothing but the faint hum of the car racing the road and the cool blast of the aircon. Two generations; a father and daughter exploring a faraway country and culture, together, for the first time; as we had already begun to make moves and counter moves of our own.