Article: Filiz Şeref
Who said ‘there is no love like in the movies’? The story of Ieva Zaleckyte and Burçkan Burçüstü and their fairytale-like wedding is a movie worthy of a movie. If you are hopeless about love, the main idea of their story may give you hope too: “True love exists. Just listen to your heart!”
At the age of 19, Lithuanian Ieva plays a game that she does not know will change her life… Even though she does not even see the face of the man with whom she plays the game. Things that seem impossible at the beginning, one day, surprisingly turn into a fairytale story with what life generously offers them…
“We were both in very different worlds then. I was 19 years old and in Lithuania. I was studying pharmacy at university. He was 21 years old and was studying graphic design in Turkey. Sometimes, when classes were too busy and I was bored, I would play stupid online games to kill time and distract myself. That night, I found myself in front of the computer to play games on Yahoo. I entered one of the hundreds of rooms I could choose to play billiards… And someone else came into that room. We started playing the game and chatting at the same time. It’s been a long game. Naturally, it was a long conversation… We exchanged our e-mails to play together again. But we never played online games together again.”
First meeting after seven years…
Yes, they never played games again because they had too much to tell each other and learn from each other by writing rather than playing games. In the next stage, the event moved to webcam and they finally fell under the spell of being able to see each other.
“Our communication lasted like this for about six months. Online correspondence, real letters, promises that we would meet one day, many hopes and strong feelings for each other…”
However, one day it was time to face the truth; Ieva’s mother said she would never allow her daughter to meet a stranger.
“When I told him I was going to get on the plane and go to meet him, my mother said she would never allow it. Because he was a stranger and I was still very young. Then my whole world collapsed. I cried for days. Burçkan was as upset as I was. But that was the truth, we wouldn’t be able to meet. And since we couldn’t meet, it was normal for us to stop corresponding. The roads were blocked for us and we continued our lives…”
But Ieva says she could never forget him, even though they both had relationships over the years. “I always had this in mind: I will definitely meet him one day.” And he continues his story, “I never forgot him.” The same goes for the men’s side. That’s why they couldn’t help but write letters to each other, although very rarely.
Exactly seven years have passed since they played the online game that led to their meeting. Ieva eventually ended her long relationship (whereas Burçkan believed that they would get married after their long relationship). Burçkan also broke up with his girlfriend, with whom he had been together for a long time, around the same time. And they became curious about each other again and started corresponding again to find out what had changed in their lives during these years when they could not communicate much. “But this time something had changed; We were adults now. We didn’t need permission from our family. We decided to meet; We said ‘now or never’. Two months later I found myself on the plane going to meet him. I wanted to come to Turkey because I didn’t need a visa and things could go easier for me. My decision to come to Turkey was the best thing I ever did in my life. We met at the airport and immediately hugged each other…” She expresses what she felt when they met with the following words: “It is very difficult to explain my feelings, but the moment I saw this man who has always been in my heart, in just five minutes, I knew that he was the man of my life. The man I had been waiting to meet for years was my other half. “You know, he felt the same thing.”
One week spent together was enough for them to realize that they could not be separated from each other and that they had no other way than being together.
“A good job, a dance life, family and friends… I left everything behind in Lithuania to be with him. I have never regretted for a second what I did. We are married now, but I still cannot forget the miracle that God treated us so generously and gave us the opportunity to meet. I am truly grateful for this great love I have experienced. I always tell my friends to follow their hearts. Because there is such a thing as true love. “Sometimes I even think that he was my lover in my previous life.”
After this short time together, Ieva returned to Lithuania and about 3.5-4 months later, she moved to Istanbul. Since that day, they have been sharing the same house, first as lovers and for the last year or so, both as lovers and as husband and wife.
As seen in the photos, their wedding was a countryside wedding reminiscent of a fairy tale.
Burçkan describes the details of the wedding day as follows: “We woke up that morning to a dark, gloomy day. The celebration would be in the evening. The rain didn’t stop all day. As we ran from home to the 1974 model MG car, which we had arranged by chance and at the last minute through an acquaintance, we got soaked five meters away. Ieva’s hair was messy and her mood was very low. I was very cheerful trying to remind him that this was an unforgettable day that could not have happened even if we wanted it to. While the rain was soaking our feet from inside the car, the clouds dispersed with the album ‘Electric Light Orchestra’ playing in the car and the bright sun appeared two minutes before we arrived at the venue. “Everything was great afterwards.”