“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it. ” – Malcolm X

This morning, the 7th of June 2015, I woke unusually early for me and despite all my attempts I could not get back to sleep. The excitement in the weeks before the election had been mounting and this past week has been all everyone could talk about. There was talk about celebrations if the party of our choice, HDP – People’s Democratic Party , managed to get over the 10% needed to form part of the parliament.  There was also less talk of what would happen if they didn’t manage this, although this was less frequent and not dwelled on for any length of time.

I have never voted before, I left the UK shortly after I turned 18 and never got the chance to vote in my home country. I was excited about casting my vote, but also worried I would do it incorrectly and my vote wouldn’t count. In this election, every single vote counted. We set out to the local school, myself, my husband and some friends, I felt myself get increasingly nervous as we got closer but thankfully my husband said we were to cast our votes in the same room so he would help me. Although I do speak fluent Turkish, this sometimes suffers in high pressure situations and I find myself stuttering and stumbling over my words. So I was grateful that he would be by my side throughout the process.

As it happens it was incredibly simple and soon we were on our way home, full of optimism and determination that this would be the day that changes things in Turkey. I spent a day feeling fairly restless and found myself willing for it to be 5pm when the polling stations would be closed and the votes would begin to be counted. We spent a day anxiously waiting the evening time when we would learn the fate of our party and people.

I will never forget the moment where the screen showed that HDP had risen over the 10%, all of a sudden we heard cries of joy come from outside and women making the shrill, high pitched noise of celebration that is native to this country. There were guns fired, fireworks were let off and people were dancing outside. Despite the head of HDP, Selahattin Demirtaş, calling for celebrations to be put off until everything was confirmed. The people could not contain their excitement and the harsh, sharp sounds of the guns could be heard intermittently, mixed with the sound of women singing and men chanting.

As I write this, the celebrations are ongoing, we are still hearing guns, fireworks are still exploding in the sky in all their technicolour glory, cars filled to the brim with excited people are still going up and down our streets hooting their horns as they go. I feel honoured to have voted in this election, to be a part of these celebrations and to be a witness to the joy that people are expressing as a result of their voices finally being heard. At this moment in time, my heart is filled with hope and positivity for the future here in Turkey.  It is one of those times where I feel without a doubt that this is where I was always meant to be and that fate brought me here, as only fate knows how.