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When Ukraine-born, Guernsey-based Olga Turkoglu saw an image online of the aftermath of an attack on Kyiv, she immediately recognised it as her mother’s neighbourhood.
She reached out to her mum on WhatsApp right away.
"Waiting for my mum to reply to my message was the longest two minutes of my life," she told Express.
"I am feeling powerless, stressed and angry. I am watching the news 24 hours a day and I am really scared to go to sleep because I don't know what tomorrow will bring."
"Sometimes I think that I have no more tears left to cry and I am becoming numb, then time passes, and I find myself crying again."
Mrs Turkoglu said she had become increasingly fearful of an invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
"Since the start of February I have been getting more and more anxious every day with the increasing threat of invasion," she said.
"I have kept offering to return to Ukraine to be with my mum and aunt, who live in Kyiv. My mum refused my offers. She said that the best thing for her is to know that I am here [in Guernsey]."
Pictured: Olga Turkoglu as a child in Kyiv, Holosiivskyi district, Ukraine
Mrs Turkoglu found out the invasion had happened when she awoke to a message from a colleague last Thursday.
"My colleague had messaged me to say she was sorry to hear about what was happening in Ukraine," she said.
"When I saw that message my heart sank. I felt like time had stopped."
She immediately looked up the news online.
"I saw a photo online of an area that had been bombed. It was a photo of the neighbourhood where my mum lives in Kyiv. I couldn't breathe.
"I had walked the very same street in December when I was visiting my family for the first time since the pandemic so that they could finally meet my son.
"I sent my mum a message on WhatsApp to check if she was ok. Eventually she replied that she and my aunt were alive and she was going to the shop to stock up on the cat's food."
"She said the fighting had started and that it is very scary being there, but told me that they are holding on."
Mrs Turkoglu, an audit manager, lived in Ukraine until she was 23 when she moved to Cyprus and later Luxembourg for work before moving to Guernsey in 2017. She lives with her husband, Mustafa Turkoglu, and their 18-month-old son.
“My husband is Turkish and an ex-military officer. We discussed our options for what we can do to help.
“My husband was not prepared to let me go to Ukraine myself, especially because he has military experience to be able to help protect us if things turned bad.”
“One option was that we could leave our son with family in Turkey, and we would then travel to Ukraine together,” said Mrs Turkoglu.
“We decided that the risk of our son losing both of his parents removed this option from the table, so we made the difficult decision not to go to Ukraine.”
Pictured: Mustafa and Olga Turkoglu travelled to Ukraine in December 2021 with their son, Aslan, to meet his family for the first time
Mrs Turkoglu has been able to remain in contact with her family in Ukraine so far.
“Thank God for the internet. We have a Viber group with relatives and every morning we are checking whether everyone is alive,” she said.
“I am in touch with my mum via WhatsApp and we have calls to discuss the news. We also have a video call once a day so that she and my aunt can watch my son play.”
“It’s getting harder every day to keep their spirits up with Kyiv being under attack all the time, but they are staying strong.”
“My family are fighters and I am very proud of them.”
Pictured: Olga Turkoglu with her family in 2017 in a village in Zhytomyr district, Ukraine
More than half a million people have fled their homes in an attempt to escape the war in Ukraine.
“Some of my friends are now trying to reach a boarder so the women and children can cross to safety. One of my friend’s youngest children is not even one,” said Mrs Turkoglu.
“They were sleeping in a car the night before I spoke to the while they were on a safe part of the journey.”
Guernsey recently announced that it will join a fast-track scheme to welcome Ukrainians feeling the war if they have a close family member living in the island already.
“I am sure that a lot of Ukrainians in Guernsey will be so grateful for this and apply for the visas,” said Mrs Turkoglu.
“Unfortunately, my aunt is not well enough to travel and I know that my mom won’t leave her in Kyiv.
“We will wait until the war is over and then apply for the tourist visa for her to come and visit us here.”
Mrs Turkoglu continues to watch events unfold on the news.
“I don’t even know what day of the week it is anymore. I just know that it is day five of the invasion already,” she said.
“Today I still have my home and my family. I am praying for that to still be the same tomorrow.”
Pictured top: Olga Turkoglu with her mum and her son, Aslan in December 2021, Kyiv, Holosiivskyi district, Ukraine.
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