Turkey becomes 2nd home for French bride

By Efsun Yilmaz

IZMIR, Turkey (AA) - Turkey has become the second home for a French bride, who fell in love with a Turkish man when she visited northwestern Balikesir province for a vacation years ago.

Brought up in France’s Bordeaux city, Perrin studied economics and came to Turkey’s capital Ankara.

In 1989, Christine Perrin spent her holiday in Ayvalik, a touristic Balikesir district, where she met her future husband.

Tying the knot in 1994 for the first time, Perrin had problems in her marriage with Turkish guy.

Having divorced her first husband, she yet did not leave Turkey and decided to bring up her two kids in the country. In 2004, she moved to the Aegean province of Izmir.

Perrin, working at French Cultural Center, met Levantine-origin Turkish national Mark Abajoli through her friends and she found love again in Turkey.

Commuting by bicycle to work, Perrin is taking photographs of the narrow streets she passes by and discovers the beauties of Turkey.

- ‘I admire undiscovered, serene places in Turkey’

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Perrin said that she admires the “undiscovered, serene places” in Turkey.

Stating that her family members are still living in Bordeaux, she added: “I am visiting France each summer. My younger son is living there.”

Perrin said she lived in France until she was 24, but she enjoyed her adulthood in Turkey. “That is why here has become my home,” she said.

“Actually, I am in between the two cultures. I have a part of me in France, and another part in here.”

Perrin has so integrated into the Turkish culture that she can perform belly dance at local wedding ceremonies.

She said people approach her with sympathy as she is a “foreign bride”.

“I do not know what is exactly attracting me here. When I compare Turkey and France, the latter had more rules and discipline.”

Perrin said that in Turkey, she thinks “there will always be a way” and everything comes to a solution in the end.

- ‘We adopted Turkish culture’

Abajoli also told Anadolu Agency that they are communicating with his wife in Turkish language and consume Turkish food.

“In my eyes, Christine is a Turkish citizen. We always plan years after retirement and I suggest her to go to the place she was born,” he said.

“Then she tells me, ‘I am 49, and 25 years of it have passed in Turkey.”

He added that a person’s house is where he knows the best. “We see Turkey as our home.”