Terrorism’s close call
Eunice attorney Don Mayeux shows photos of Istranbul he took while visiting his daughter, Nicole, and her family in Istanbul in December 2014. Nicole, who has two children, has lived in Istanbul for three years. In front of Mayeux are photos from Nicole’s wedding in New Orleans. She is married to a native of Turkey. (Photo by Harlan Kirgan)
The triple suicide bombing that killed at least 44 people at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, was a close call for some people in Eunice.
Donald Mayeux, a Eunice attorney, and his wife, Barbara, have been through the airport in three trips to Turkey to visit their daughter, Nicole.
“We were really shocked,” Donald Mayeux said of the attack.
“It is scary,” he said. “We can’t wait for them to come back.”
Mayeux said Nicole married Turkish native Joseph Akyuz six years ago in New Orleans.
Akyuz, an advertising executive, was sent by his company to open an office in Istanbul three years ago.
The job also requires travel.
“We always worry about them traveling, but they never seem to be worried. But things are bad. A few weeks ago they had a bombing at a market,” Mayeux said.
Mayeux said he and his wife are in daily contact over Skype with their daughter.
“Nicole said ‘Dad, look we are going to Atlanta. That’s just above Orlando. There is no safe place anymore.’ That’s true, but that is how it is. We all just hope for the best,” Mayeux said.
His daughter has two children, ages 2 and 5, he said.
In their visits to Turkey, Mayeux said they have felt safe.
“In Turkey, you feel very, very safe. In Istanbul, people are very nice. They all wear black clothes or dark clothes. Everybody walks everywhere,” he said,
Their last visit was in December 2014 and there a lot of security at the airport, which he describes as large and busy.
Mayeux noted the popular Cajun band, Pine Leaf Boys was on tour in Turkey the week of Tuesday’s bombing.
Wilson Savoy, son of Marc and Ann Savoy, is a member of the band, which posted the following on Facebook on June 29.
“Wild day so far. Our plans to perform tonight in Istanbul have been cancelled because of last night’s suicide bombings at the airport, so we packed up and headed East to Ankara, where we have been asked to play “subdued and quietly” tomorrow night.... We’ll have to figure out how to do that.... Security is tight and the Turkish government has put a block on all Facebook transmissions, so we had to use VPN to send this update.”
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