Turkish Cypriots mark two years since deadly earthquakes

Turkish Cypriots on Thursday commemorated the second anniversary of the two devastating earthquakes which hit southeastern Turkey in 2023.

A total of 49 Cypriots were among the more than 50,000 people recorded dead as a result of the earthquakes on February 6, 2023.

Thirty five Cypriots, 24 were children and 11 teachers, all died when the hotel in which they were staying in Turkey, the Isias hotel in Adiyaman, collapsed. They made up the Famagusta Turk Maarif Koleji (TMK) school volleyball team – posthumously colloquially known as the Champion Angels, and as such, Thursday events centred on Famagusta.

The first event of the day took place at the cemetery in Famagusta where the 35 are buried.

The event at the ceremony began with a rendition of the Turkish national anthem and a recital of a prayer, before flowers were lain at the graves of the Champion Angels by their families, high-profile Turkish Cypriot political figures, and hundreds of members of the public.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar was present at the event and gave a short speech, while ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, members of his cabinet including ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu and ‘interior minister’ Dursun Oguz, and opposition party CTP leader Tufan Erhurman.

Emotions were raw at the cemetery, with the two years which have passed since the earthquakes having in no way dampened the grief felt by the families of those who died.

An hour later, a second ceremony was held at a theatre in the town, with Rusen Karakaya, whose daughter Selin was among those killed at the Isias hotel, and who is now also the chairwoman of the Keeping the Champion Angels Alive Association, making a speech.

“Today, we have come together with a deep pain which envelops us, with an indescribable longing which squeezes our hearts … Two years have passed, but for us, time stopped on the morning of that dark day,” she began.

“That day, they took our children, our teachers, our friends from us. We buried them one by one, with their dreams, their hopes, their futures. But their light has never gone out, and it will never go out, because we will never give up our struggle to keep their memory alive and to provide the justice they deserve.

“What hurts us most is knowing that this loss was not fate. Our champion angels fell victim not only to an earthquake, but to a disaster created by human hands, to negligence, to greed and to heartlessness. A building collapsed into a pile of sand in 16 seconds.”

She added that those responsible for building the Isias hotel, as well as “those who supervised it and those who turned a blind eye” have “the blood of our children and our loved ones on their hands”.

She then named the members of the volleyball team one by one, before promising that she and the rest of the parents will continue their fight for justice, with attention in that regard now turned to an appeal which is set to be lodged against a December ruling that six people were guilty of “conscious negligence”.

The children’s families argue that this is not harsh enough and will appeal the ruling to demand that intentionally killing the victims be brought.

Looking into the future beyond the court case, she said the association she chairs will keep the children’s memory alive by offering educational scholarships, by building sports facilities in schools, and by partaking in other similar projects.

“Our children will not only exist in our memories, but also in our future,” she said.

Throughout the day, visits were made to cemeteries in Ayios Sergios, Aloda, Prastio, Vatyli, and Marathovounos, the villages from which the Champion Angels not from the town of Famagusta itself hailed, before the day is set to end with a religious memorial service at Famagusta’s Polatpasha mosque.

Earlier, newspaper Kibris had spoken to Sevgen Balci, whose daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, Havv Balci Cavdir, Evren Cavdir, and Elvin Cavdir, were all killed when the Isias hotel collapsed. She is now her remaining granddaughter Ceylin Cavdir’s sole guardian.

“Ceylin was seven and a half years old when she lost her family. Now she lives with me. I have to raise her in the best way possible, and I have to stay strong for that reason,” she said.

“I have to stay like this. They entrusted that child to me and left. I have to raise her,” she said.

She added that Ceylin, now nine, has only been to the cemetery once, “because, as far as I understand, she cannot accept this situation and never talks to us about it”.

Ceylin also never went back to her home after the earthquake, having chosen not to go to Adiyaman with her family but instead to go to her grandmother’s house for the week in February 2023.

“She lives with me, she does not go to anyone else but me, she does not stay with anyone else. I spend my life taking care of Ceylin. When she cries, she neither cries for her mother nor her father. She always cries for her grandmother.”