Tuesday marks the first anniversary of the two devastating earthquakes which hit southeastern Turkey, with commemorations taking place in the north to remember the Cypriots who died as a result.
A total of 49 Cypriots were among the more than 50,000 people recorded dead as a result of the earthquakes on February 6, 2022.
35 of those Cypriots, 24 of them children and 11 of them teachers, 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, Tuesday’s events centre on Famagusta.
At 10am, a ceremony was held at the cemetery in Famagusta where the 35 are buried, while an event and the release of “balloons for justice” is set to take place later in the day, before a religious memorial service will take place at Famagusta’s central Lala Mustafa Pasha mosque.
“The pain we experienced a year ago will never go away. It gets more painful every day,” said Rusen Yucesoylu Karakaya, whose daughter Selin was among those killed at the Isias hotel, told the Anadolu Agency.
“My child’s room is empty. Our house is empty. Selin was my only child. My house used to be lively before, but now, when I walk in the front door, it is silent. All of these families are the same. This pain does not end and will never end. We miss our children every day.”
Karakaya chairs the “Keeping the Champion Angels alive association”, which, among other activities, is spearheading the fight for criminal repercussions for those responsible for the Isias hotel’s collapse.
“All of these families came together and established this association with the aim of keeping our children’s names alive,” she said.
“We, Cypriot families, lost our children, but we have been fighting for justice since day one. This fight for justice is what keeps us alive. This pain, this trauma, will never end, but everyone needs to have a goal to hold on to,” she said.
Recep Kilic travelled with his daughter and the rest of the team to Adiyaman last February and stayed at the Isias hotel. He survived the building’s collapse, but his daughter did not.
“I survived the rubble, but my daughter did not,” he said.
Earlier, four fathers of those killed had said they were still in disbelief at the loss of their children, and that “our only goal now is to achieve justice for our children.”
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Turkish Cypriot Leader Ersin Tatar said, “this disaster wounded us, and that wound is still open. We strive to do our best to heal the wounds of this disaster, including those of our Champion Angels, and to keep their names alive.”
“Days passed, weeks passed, a year passed, but our pain has not gone away. It is not going away,” said the north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel.
“Even though no building in Cyprus was destroyed in the earthquake, the emotional devastation we experienced shook our country deeply. It is for this reason that we do not and cannot forget February 6,” he said.
Speaking on the matter of the trial of the 11 held responsible for the Isias hotel’s collapse, he said “we are continuing to follow the process to ensure that everyone responsible receives the punishment they deserve, as prescribed by law, after a fair trial.”
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