Sad stories are being told of Syrian refugees who fled to neighboring Turkey to escape the civil war and fell victim to the devastating earthquake, eventually becoming corpses and being embraced in the arms of their homeland.
At 4:17 am (local time) on the 6th (10:00 am Korean time), a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and 125 aftershocks with a magnitude of 4.0 or higher struck the border area between southern Turkey and northern Syria. The number of confirmed deaths alone has exceeded 15,000 on both sides, with tens of thousands injured.
Among them were refugees from Syria. They were the ones who relied on neighboring countries to escape the civil war.
Syria has been going through a serious civil war since 2011. Starting with anti-government democratization protests demanding the resignation of the Bashar al-Assad regime, Shia-Sunni sectarian conflicts, neighboring Arab countries and Western intervention, and furthermore, the U.S. (rebels) and Russia (government forces) took on the form of a proxy war, resulting in bloodshed for 12 years. are being made
According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 8th (local time), for several days after the earthquake, humanitarian aid did not arrive in the northwest region controlled by Syrian rebels. There were only victims who became corpses.
“We want them to be buried with their families,” said a Syrian man waiting for the body of a young relative in Turkiye. He, who lives in Tend camp, lamented that “those who did not die in Syria died in Turkiye.” The little girl was found among the rubble of a house in Turkiye. The girl’s parents and younger brother are still buried under the rubble.
Victims wrapped in body bags and blue tarpaulins or blankets were returned home in vans. The names scrawled randomly on scraps of paper were for the bereaved families waiting to greet them.
Fleeing air raids and collapsing buildings during the civil war, they once lived in a safe house in Turkiye. But their safe new home collapsed this week and they were found among the rubble. And they were repatriated through the only UN-approved humanitarian passage, the ‘Bab al-Hawa’ border area.
On the 7th, 85 people returned to the arms of their home country, and on the 8th, dozens followed. According to CNN, it is estimated that there are about 300 so far.
During the ongoing Syrian civil war, 4 million people fled to the relatively safe neighboring state of Turkiye. Jordan, Lebanon and Europe add up to millions.
“All we are doing so far is taking the bodies of our people who died in Turkiye so that they can be buried back in their hometowns,” said Bab Al-Hawa Media Office.
Upon hearing the news of the repatriation of the victims from Turkiye, the bereaved families flocked to Bab al-Hawah and spent the night in the bitter cold. A group of men stood apart from each other and said nothing. When the van stopped, they rushed to see if it was their family.
A border control officer called out the name of the deceased, and one man in the crowd urged another man. “Go and check your sister’s body.” However, the other man couldn’t take his feet off easily, saying, “I can’t bear to confirm.” “I don’t want to erase the face of my sister from my heart,” said the man. Eventually, the man who came with him confirmed his identity.
Syrian bereaved families who have come to receive the already frozen body are moving their loved ones to their final resting place.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.