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This photo was taken on 9 October 1977 at the wedding of my daughter Fortune Tuna. On the left you can see me and my wife Berta (Bulisa) Coyas, the bride Fortune Tuna, the groom Albert Baruh Saylag, his mother Sara Saylag and his father, Dr. Izak Baruh Saylag. On the right you see the little bridesmaid, Beti Yanar, my son-in-law’s sister Viki Yanar’s daughter.
The wedding ceremony took place at 4:00 pm at the Neve-Shalom Synagogue in Sishane. We can be seen to hold the tallit over our children. It was a very crowded and beautiful ceremony.
My daughter Fortune (Tuna) went to the newly opened Uskudar Turkish Girls College for the elementary school. She was hardworking like her brother. Then she took the exams of a couple of private French schools. She passed them all, but we preferred the Saint-Benoit Girls High school because the transportation was easier.
When she was a young girl, her friends she hung around with were all Jewish. She used to go to Judaic clubs like Amical [Jewish Youth Club, used to be located in the first floor at the back of the Sisli Beth Israel Synagogue in Istanbul. University students used to go to this club to take part in socail and cultural activities like theater, conferences and dancing parties]. and take part in their social activities. She would organize parties and quiz contests, and play drama at these clubs. After finishing high school with a good grade, she took the university exams. She won the Business Administration department of Marmara University. In the mean time she was dating Albert Baruh Saylag, whom a relative had introduced. After 4-5 months his family came and asked for our permission for their son to marry her. We accepted, and they got engaged.
My son-in-law had recently graduated from the Pharmaceutical Faculty. His father was a gynaecologist. They lived in Fenerbahce. He worked in the State Railroads Hospital. His wife did not work.
At the end of the year 1975, we agreed to this marriage. Immediately after that my son-in-law went first to Samsun and then to Bandirma, to complete his military duty in 18 months as an officer. We performed the engagement ceremony in the house within the family, in April, in 1976. My uncle, Nisim, who was alive then, put on their rings.
Because of the situation in the universities in those days, we did not want our daughter to continue going to school. But she insisted and started university. While she was in her second year, we had their wedding on 9th of October, in 1977. Before the wedding, my daughter and I went to Paris. In this way, we were able to make a trip together, during her last single days. They got married at the Neve Shalom Synagogue. It was a very nice and crowded ceremony. Everyone was excited because this was the first wedding in the family. My son in Israel and some relatives had come to Istanbul for the wedding. We gave a dinner party to friends and relatives at the Tarabya Hotel. There was also live music. Everyone danced and had fun. The newly weds went to Izmir for their honeymoon.
We were going to move to our new apartment in Caddebostan after the wedding. The apartment below us was vacant. My daughter and son-in-law rented it. We lived over one another for years. We watched our grandchildren grow up. As the conditions did not permit it, my son-in-law could not work in his field, and started working for a company owned by three Jewish partners involved in selling tires. He is still working there. My daughter did not work since her husband did not want her to. Their first daughter Sara Selin was born in 1980, and their second daughter Lisya in 1984.
