# Seven: The Homeland and Faraway Places

Utku Kaynar · 2019-05-17 · https://utkukaynar.io/posts/letters-07-en/

> A letter to Ada about her ancestry, her homeland, and finding a home as a citizen of the world.


![Hot-air balloons above Göreme in Cappadocia, Türkiye](https://utkukaynar.io/images/letters/07-homeland.jpg)

*Photo by [Igor Sporynin](https://unsplash.com/@igorharrier) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-hot-air-balloons-in-the-sky-with-cappadocia-in-the-background-SagXn7H6HFg).*

*May 16, 2019 / San Jose, California*

Ada,

Today you turned exactly seven months old. We have not seen each other since April 10—five weeks now. Because I came here for work and you and your mother unexpectedly stayed in Turkey, I missed your six- and seven-month milestones, and your mother's first Mother's Day.

My heart aches.

Today, partly for that reason and partly because the time has come, we are going to talk about the idea of a homeland.

My daughter, a homeland is the land where most of a person's ancestors came from, or where the society whose culture shaped them as they grew up lives, regardless of where that person was born.

As you will read in more detail below, your recent ancestors came from Anatolia and the Balkans, and your more distant ancestors from a region stretching from Siberia to Europe. Your mother and I grew up within the cultural landscape of Anatolia. We will raise you with those local roots, too, even as we enrich them with universal values.

Your birthplace is Santa Clara. You were born in the very heart of Silicon Valley. But your homeland is Anatolia, officially the Republic of Turkey.

Let me tell you a little about your biological family. You can find all my genetic information at this [link](https://you.23andme.com/published/reports/b60f75817b314bbbbe0fb1376de1508c/?share_id=e68e437c2bdb4d43).

As you can see, I have roughly equal Southern European and Anatolian ancestry. Going back about 300 years, my ancestors came from Europe, North Africa, and even Siberia. At the time of writing, your mother had not yet taken a DNA test. But considering that her entire family consists of immigrants from the Balkans, we can say that more than two-thirds of your gene pool comes from Southern European ancestors.

So your biological origins point to Southern Europe / the Balkans. Like the descendants of all the great populations forced to move from place to place during the turbulent history of the twentieth century, you too are a descendant of immigrants.

As your life unfolds, though, you may choose new places on Earth—or beyond it 😐—in which to settle. The term “world citizen” describes people who absorb and embrace the cultures of the whole world without remaining tied to any one place. If you have read my previous letters, you must have realized that there is no genetic superiority or inferiority between you and people from other places. The same equality applies to different parts of the world: you can choose any place on Earth as the place to live your life. From the moment you decide to live there and put down roots, that place is your home.

But that does not change your homeland. Your homeland is Turkey.

Your homeland is one of the last countries to have won its independence, through war and hard work, against a great coalition of imperial occupiers. You are the child of a society that managed to build a new, modern republic from the ashes of a collapsing empire. This is a privilege that people in many countries on Earth have not had, and it is why our bond with our homeland differs from that of many other countries.

You may travel very far throughout your life. Perhaps you will build new lives in those places and carry on your struggle for a living there. Love faraway places and the struggle. Remember: unless you step outside your comfort zone, you cannot attain anything meaningful for yourself. There is no peace without struggle.

But always remember this, too: however far you are from your homeland, however long you are separated from those you love, your homeland is Turkey. Like a boomerang thrown into the air, no matter how far you go, in the end you will always return in some way to your home country and those you love.

Love your homeland despite all its turmoil, but never give up being a citizen of the world, my daughter.

The world and the future are yours.

With love,

Dad.

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[Originally published on Medium](https://medium.com/adaya-mektuplar/yedi-anayurt-ve-uzaklar-d79074af9c99)