Two years after the 6 February earthquakes: They are still in search of their missing relatives!
Two years after the 6 February earthquakes, there are still families who cannot find their missing ones. Sema Güleç, the spokesperson of the 6 February Earthquake Lost Ones Platform, who lost her 24-year-old son, said, ‘We are willing to try everything and ask them to bring us our lost ones, alive or dead, whatever it takes. Let us have a grave to visit in case they are dead.’

On 6 February 2023, 11 provinces were severely destroyed by earthquakes hitting Kahramanmaras. At least 53 thousand 725 people lost their lives, and 107 thousand 213 people were injured. Among the 11 provinces, Hatay was recorded as the city where the highest destruction took place. Although there are different estimates regarding the quantitative data, it is believed that approximately 2 million people migrated from the earthquake zone due to the crisis of shelter and access to basic needs after the earthquake.
As the second year of the earthquake comes to an end, there are still families who cannot reach their relatives whom they lost during the earthquake and whose fate remains unknown. Sema Güleç, who is the spokesperson of the ‘6 February Earthquake Lost Ones Platform’ established by the families who could not reach their relatives, questioned the status of her 24-year-old architect son Mustafa Batuhan Güleç and her daughters Nazlı Özçetin and Pınar İnglet, who questioned the status of their father İsmet Durur.
‘IF HE PASSED AWAY, DID HE DISAPPEAR IN THE GRAVEYARD? I HAVE NO INFORMATION’
Güleç said that his son was not found in the rubble of the 5- story apartment building that collapsed in Iskenderun, but as they learnt later, his son was blown onto the side building, and that the people around stopped the ambulance, but when the ambulance did not take him because it was full, he was placed in a white car following them, ‘After that, there is no further. Was he registered at the hospital? If he passed away, did he disappear in the graveyard? Is he alive? I really have no information,’ he said.
Güleç stated that they were trapped in the rubble for eight days and afterwards they visited all hospitals, graveyards and mortuaries across Turkey with her family and said, ‘I and his father gave DNA samples, then we found hair strands from his clothes. None of them matched, so my son is gone.’ Güleç, who called on the authorities to find their lost ones, said the following:
‘THEY MADE A PROMISE’
‘We established this platform and tried to reach the government, the state and the authorities. We reached the Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya on Twitter. Minister Yerlikaya assigned Abdullah Özçelik, the head of AFAD Department. I went to Ankara and met with Mr. Özçelik on behalf of the platform. During our meetings, they said that they would set up a team consisting of the Ministry of Interior, AFAD, the National Intelligence Organisation and the National Police to search for our lost ones, and they began to search. Many efforts were made, they managed to find two people from the platform, and while searching for our missing ones, other disappeared people were also found. They handed them over to their relatives. But then we got stuck again. No one has been found for a long time. We are waiting for what they had promised us. The photographs of the deceased throughout Turkey were going to be examined. We want to check their photos. Because our deceased may have been switched. It is possible that someone might have taken them away as their own.
‘TAKE DNA SAMPLES OF FAMILIES OF THE DECEASED’
We have one more demand. Perhaps the families may not allow the graves to be reopened, it is not easy, that is our first wish. If not, then DNA samples should be collected from the families of the deceased, and they should be matched with those lying in the cemeteries of nameless. I am sure there will be matches. Then they will say ‘who is the person you have buried?’ I think a couple of such people will be identified. Our request is that our government, our state should give more priority.
The uncertainty is really very tough. We have established a Whatsapp group as a platform. We are literally healing each other because nobody understands us except us. It has been two years, every time the phone is ringing, I and other families think ‘I wonder if there is any news’ or when the doorbell rings, I know that my mind says, ‘he has passed away or he would have come out’, but my heart says, ‘I wonder if he will show up?’ Every time the doorbell rings, I run in hope, I go, I answer it, but there is nothing. The uncertainty is really terrible. I don't really know how these two years have passed. People whose loved ones passed away have grieved, maybe they have turned back to their normal lives, which is also very painful for them. But we have not been able to grieve and return to our normal lives yet. We remain in a state of search.
‘I DESCRIBE MY LAST 2 YEARS AS DESPAIR’
I define my last 2 years as ‘despair’. At first, we could not be heard, then the first search was started after the 5th month of 2024. Maybe he would have been found earlier. We all feel a great despair. Speaking on behalf of all families of the missing, we feel a great desperation.
I appeal to all authorities to do whatever they can. They should try everything and hand over our missing ones, alive or dead, we are ready, whatever they can do. Let us have a grave to visit if they are dead. On 6 February, I visited the wreckage last year and left flowers, and it will be the same this year. We don't even have a place to visit. A building will be constructed on the site next year and I will not be able to go there either. We want our lost ones to be found as soon as possible, we have no other demands.
‘WE ARE SEARCHING FOR ALIVE OR DEAD’
Nazlı Özçetin and Pınar Inglet, who live in Germany, are also questioning the status of their father İsmet Durur. Nazlı Özçetin, who first spoke via video call from Germany, said, ‘My mother was under the rubble for three days at the Antakya city centre. My mum says that my father got out. She even heard my father talking to others. We are searching for him alive or dead. We have been through a lot in two years. Near the fourth month of 2023, a call from a police station in Sivas was received, they said that my father had bought a SIM card. We immediately flew from Germany to Sivas after we learned about it. When we went to the police station, they did not provide me with any information, saying ‘we cannot put you in danger, we are tracking him'. But until today, nothing has been found out from that call. There were many eyewitnesses, many people in the neighbourhood, and sometimes there were many people who said they had seen my father, but we still haven't been able to reach him.’
APPEAL TO THE INTERIOR MINISTER YERLIKAYA
Pınar Inglet said that they wanted Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya to gather with the families of the lost ones and said, ‘We do not want to get two or three lines during a speech on the budget. This made us feel a little hurt. We have gone through very difficult times. All we want is to gather with the families at the Ministry. We are already 25 families, there are 13 families on our own platform. We want to gather and look at those photos of the missing. We also call on our nation, our state, our people, our people from 81 provinces, our people from abroad to help; We want our military, police, health workers, volunteers to regularly share the photos of our lost ones.’
‘FOR US, 6 FEBRUARY HAS NEVER BEEN OVER’
Evaluating the process they have been going through in the last 2 years, Ingret said the following:
‘6 February is a never-ending night, for us 6 February has never ended. For people, rituals are important in their lives. We feel very incomplete because we could not have our funeral and perform those rituals. Even though we say ‘he has been dead for two years’, something in us says ‘he is not dead’. There is a very beautiful saying in Germany, ‘hope is always the last to die’. We do not want to kill our hopes. I believe my father is alive. It is a very bad situation. The uncertainty is the hardest, not knowing is very painful. Every night we are suffering because we think about how he died, whether he died, whether he suffered, whether he called me, whether he thought about us.
‘OUR ONLY WISH IS TO HAVE A GRAVE’
It's as if we caused the earthquake. As if we're begging people for money. No, we don't. All we want is to have a grave. Even if they are dead, these people are buried somewhere right now. There is no one who visits them, no one who says a prayer, no one who puts flowers on their graves. Our pain is beyond description. You laugh at times, two years have passed, but the pain is still there, and it does not go away, it does not lessen. You know, we Muslims say ‘when someone dies, they slowly disappear from you’, but we don't have that kind of feeling, none of us have that feeling.
‘YOUR FATHER, CHILD, GRANDCHILD, DAUGHTER ARE MISSING AND NO ONE KNOWS WHERE THEY ARE’
Our stories are also very different. For example, we have a teacher Ayfer Öz, she disappeared with her car. There are eyewitnesses, there are students who saw her after the earthquake, but now there is neither her car nor herself. There is Melike Kılıç, her husband and son died. She had experienced mental problems because she witnessed the death of her husband and son, and she was devastated by the earthquake. Her neighbours called the police, the police took her away and then there's nothing. I want everyone to realise that your loved one is missing, not your phone, not your pet, but your father, your child, your grandchild, your daughter is missing and no one knows where she is. It's been two years, sometimes a time comes when we say ‘okay, we will not find it anyway’. But the next morning we get up and continue. Because we do not have the luxury to stop. We cannot stop because a piece of our life is incomplete. And this is not a minor problem. This is a human being, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey. Most of them are teachers. Ayfer Öz is a teacher, Tuğba Koçar is a teacher, Mustafa Batuhan Güleç is an architect...
Our only request is that the Ministry of Interior and all our state leaders facilitate this whole process for us. Also, please, as we were promised at the beginning, we would like to ask the head of AFAD, Mr Münir Bey, the Deputy Minister of Interior, to gather the families of the missing and to see the photographs of the missing on the big screen, we ask, we beg, we plead, please.’
Source: 6 Şubat depremlerinin üzerinden iki yıl geçti: Hâlâ yakınlarını arıyorlar!