Turkey’s election authority reinstates pro-Kurdish mayoral election winner | Elections News

Election authority reverses ejection of Kurdish winner of mayoral race in city of Van in eastern Turkey.

Turkey’s election authority has reinstated a pro-Kurdish mayoral election winner in the eastern city of Van after the annulment of his victory provoked clashes.

The Supreme Election Board (YSK) announced on Wednesday that it has overturned a decision by the regional election commission in eastern Turkey to remove Abdullah Zeydan, the candidate of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM).

The reversal is viewed as another boost for the Turkish opposition following Sunday’s local elections, which dealt a blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party (AKP), after their wins last year in the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Zeydan had garnered more than 55 percent of the vote in the municipal elections on Sunday, but the regional electoral commission claimed he was ineligible to stand due to a previous conviction, and handed the mayoral seat to a candidate from AKP who had won 27 percent of the vote.

Zeydan had been arrested and jailed in 2016 after criticising the Turkish army’s air campaign against outlawed Kurdish fighters in the Kurdish-majority southeast. He was released in 2022.

The removal provoked violent protests on Tuesday that lasted throughout the night across the province, which lies on Turkey’s eastern border with Iran.

The authorities cracked down. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 89 people were detained, for joining unauthorised rallies and chanting slogans in praise of a “separatist terror organisation”, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that has been blacklisted by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

DEM has often been accused by the Turkish authorities of links to the PKK. The movement is the third-largest party in Turkey’s national parliament.

However, on Wednesday, DEM said the YSK had decided to reinstate Zeydan as the mayor of Van as “a result of the resistance of the Kurdish people”.

The YSK considered an appeal by DEM and ruled to reinstate Zeydan, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The decision was taken by a majority of the board’s members, the agency said.

Over the years, Erdogan’s government has removed elected pro-Kurdish mayors from office for alleged links to Kurdish fighters and replaced them with state-appointed trustees.

Besides the victory in Van, DEM also claimed the mayorships of other large towns in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, including Diyarbakir, the region’s largest city.

Before the election board’s decision to reinstate Zeydan, Istanbul’s re-elected mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, seen as a likely rival to Erdogan, called the events in Van a “total aberration”.

“We will be following this meaningless practise of double standards from Van,” Imamoglu, whose party backed the DEM in its battle against the Van ruling, told a crowd of about 500 supporters gathered outside Istanbul’s main court after he was officially given a mandate to serve five more years.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Turkey’s opposition set to hold power in major cities, partial results show | Elections News

Partial results in local elections show CHP candidates ahead of their AK Party rivals in Ankara and Istanbul.

Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) appears set to retain its control over key cities, according to preliminary partial results from the country’s local elections.

With 49 percent of ballot boxes opened in Istanbul on Sunday, Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu from the CHP led with 50.05 percent of the vote against 41.2 percent for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, candidate Murat Kurum.

In Ankara, with 29.2 percent of ballot boxes opened, Mayor Mansur Yavas of CHP led with 58.2 percent against 34.1 percent for the Erdogan-backed candidate.

The CHP was also ahead in Izmir, Turkey’s third city, and a party stronghold.

State-run Anadolu news agency published partial official tallies showing the CHP leading in big cities such as Izmir, Bursa, Antalya and Adana.

“Based on the data we have obtained, I can say that our citizens’ faith in us has been rewarded,” Imamoglu told reporters at the CHP’s Istanbul headquarters.

“The picture we have seen now pleases us greatly, but no election is finalised before it is over,” he said.

Ahead of casting his vote, Erdogan said: “This election will mark the beginning of a new era for our country.”

In the previous elections in 2019, the CHP’s Imamoglu dealt Erdogan and his AK Party the biggest electoral blow of his two decades in power when he won the race to be mayor of Istanbul. This loss also struck a personal note for Erdogan, who was born and raised in the city and served as its mayor in the 1990s.

Sunday’s local elections appear to represent a fresh blow to the president, who had set his sights on retaking control of those urban areas.

Some 61 million people were eligible to vote for mayors across Turkey’s 81 provinces, as well as provincial council members and other local officials on Sunday.

The nationwide local elections are seen by analysts and civilians as a gauge of both Erdogan’s support and the opposition’s durability.

“Imamoglu is fine and does what he should as mayor, but he does not compare with Erdogan,” AK Party voter and retiree Omer told Reuters in Istanbul.

If Erdogan won back Istanbul and Ankara, he would have an incentive to “amend” the constitution to stand for re-election for a fourth term, Bayram Balci, a political scientist at France’s Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), told the AFP news agency.

Meanwhile, an Imamoglu victory would make him a potential opponent to Erdogan’s ruling AK Party in the next presidential election in 2028.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Polls open in Turkey local elections in key test of Erdogan’s popularity | Elections News

Polls have opened in Turkey for local elections in a crucial test for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he seeks to win back control of key urban areas he lost to the opposition five years ago.

Voting stations opened on Sunday at 7am local time (04:00 GMT) in eastern Turkey, with voting elsewhere starting at 8am and ending at 5pm. Initial results are expected by 10pm (19:00 GMT).

The vote is a barometer of Erdogan’s popularity and will decide who gets to control the economic hub of Istanbul and the capital Ankara, both of which he lost in 2019.

The 70-year-old Turkish leader has set his sights on wresting back Istanbul, a city of 16 million people, where he was born and raised, and where he began his political career as mayor in 1994.

“Winning major cities is more of a deal for the opposition, but also it means access to foreign funds, having transnational links with both economic actors and political actors,” Evren Balta, professor of political science at Turkey’s Ozyegin University, told Al Jazeera.

“If you are governing a major global city, it means you have visibility in the international scene.”

A strong showing for Erdogan’s ruling Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party, or the AK Party, would likely harden his resolve to usher in a new constitution – one that would reflect his conservative values and allow him to rule beyond 2028, when his current term ends, analysts say.

For the opposition – divided and demoralised after a defeat in last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections – keeping Istanbul and Ankara would be a tremendous boost and help remobilise supporters.

Some 61 million people, including more than a million first-time voters, are eligible to cast ballots for all metropolitan municipalities, town and district mayorships as well as neighbourhood administrations.

Vote amid cost of living crisis

Turnout is traditionally high in Turkey, but this time the vote comes against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis. Observers say disillusioned opposition supporters could opt to stay home, doubting its ability to change things. Governing party supporters, meanwhile, could also choose not to go to the polls in protest of the economic downturn that has left many struggling to pay for food, utilities and rent.

Some 594,000 security personnel will be on duty across the country to ensure the vote goes smoothly, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

Polls have pointed to a close race between Istanbul’s incumbent mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, of the main opposition, pro-secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and the AK Party’s candidate Murat Kurum, a former urbanisation and environment minister.

However, this time, Imamoglu – a popular figure touted as a possible future challenger to Erdogan – is running without the support of some of the parties that helped him to victory in 2019.

Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said whoever wins the polls will have “far-reaching implications” on Turkey’s politics.

“Imamoglu’s victory might lent him opposition leadership and presidential nomination in 2028. But Kurum’s victory might help President Erdogan strengthen his power base and repair his legacy, particularly the troubled economy and foreign affairs.”

Meanwhile, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and the nationalist IYI Party (the Good Party) are fielding their own candidates in the race, which could siphon votes away from Imamoglu.

A six-party opposition alliance led by CHP disintegrated after it failed to remove Erdogan in last year’s election, unable to capitalise on the economic crisis and the government’s initially poor response to last year’s devastating earthquake that killed more than 53,000 people.

One factor working against Erdogan is a rise in support for the Islamist New Welfare Party (YRP) due to its hardline stance against Israel over the war in Gaza and dissatisfaction with the AK Party’s handling of the economy.

In Ankara, incumbent Mayor Mansur Yavas – also seen as a potential future challenger to Erdogan – is expected to retain his post, according to opinion polls.

His challenger – Turgut Altinok, the AK Party candidate and mayor of Ankara’s Kecioren district – has failed to drum up excitement among supporters.

In Turkey’s mainly Kurdish-populated southeast, the DEM Party is expected to win many of the municipalities but it is unclear whether it would be allowed to retain them. In previous years, Erdogan’s government removed elected pro-Kurdish mayors from office for alleged links to Kurdish groups and replaced them with state-appointed trustees.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

What shapes Turkey’s municipal elections? | Elections News

Municipal elections are being held in Turkey on Sunday, and the vote could define the future of Turkish politics.
Polls will be open in all 81 provinces, but the real battle is for a city of 16 million people, the only city on two continents – Istanbul.

There is a saying in Turkish politics: Whoever wins Istanbul wins Turkey. And that is why this vote is a test for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party. It lost Istanbul to the opposition five years ago.

Money is a major factor. Whoever controls big cities also controls their budgets, development projects – and quite possibly the parties’ longevity.

There’s a lot at stake in this race – high inflation, political divisions and international pressures all play a role.

So, how could the outcome alter the country’s prospects for years to come? And what direction could Turkey take?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Ahmet Kasim Han – Professor of political science and international relations at Beykoz University

Vehbi Baysan – Assistant professor at Ibn Haldun University

Mehmet Celik – Editorial co-ordinator at Daily Sabah newspaper

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Fears of AI disinformation cast shadow over Turkish local elections | Elections News

Istanbul, Turkey – As nationwide local elections approach on March 31, there are concerns in Turkey about the growing threat of disinformation and fake media created through artificial intelligence.

Earlier this year, a video spread across social media purportedly showing Istanbul’s opposition mayor praising President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

Ekrem Imamoglu, of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is seen in the video commending the “great steps” taken in public transport projects when the AK Party controlled Istanbul.

While the video was widely discredited due to the substance of Imamoglu’s “comments”, it raised fears about media manipulation in an election where the AK Party is trying to retake cities won by the opposition in 2019.

Political scandals over “leaked” recordings are nothing new in Turkey.

In 2010, CHP leader Deniz Baykal stood down following the publication of a sex tape online.

Four years later, then-Prime Minister Erdogan condemned an audio recording that suggested his involvement in corruption, saying it was fabricated.

Deepfake vs cheap fake

Fake videos and images present a “huge threat” in the upcoming election, Emre Ilkan Saklica, director of fact-checking project Teyit (“verification” or “collaboration” in Turkish), said.

The spread of social media has seen a growth in content denounced as fake.

“It doesn’t take a long time for content to … spread on social media,” he said. “A claim made from an individual account can suddenly become widespread and find its place in the mainstream.”

Apart from the Imamoglu video, there have been several other incidents in the run-up to the elections, in which candidates are competing for positions ranging from metropolitan mayor to village representative.

The Workers’ Party of Turkey announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing the mayoral candidacy of former footballer Gokhan Zan in Hatay, one of the southern provinces hit by last year’s earthquakes.

The move came amid reports of a recording in which Zan allegedly discussed bribes and a possible job with state-run broadcaster TRT in return for running against Hatay’s incumbent CHP mayor.

Zan later filed a criminal complaint claiming he had been subjected to “threats and blackmail” and saying the recording had been created through AI.

Saklica said that “cheap fake” videos were more prevalent than sophisticated AI-created content, however.

Last week, video footage circulated of CHP officials in Istanbul counting bundles of cash, hinting at corruption within the opposition.

The party said the video was from 2019, when staff were depositing cash with a lawyer handling the purchase of the CHP’s office.

Supporters of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu wave Turkish flags at a campaign event before local elections in Istanbul on March 19, 2024 [Umit Bektas/Reuters]

“Ahead of the 2023 general elections, many people were of the opinion that deepfake, AI-generated videos were the primary threat,” Saklica said.

“However, beyond these technologies, images or videos that are called cheap fakes can be produced in just a few minutes and can become widespread much more easily in Turkey.”

‘Sticks like chewing gum’

Addressing this month’s election, Ejder Batur, deputy chairman of the AK Party in Istanbul, accused the CHP of creating “perceptions … with advertisements and disinformation” to mislead the public about its record in Istanbul over the last five years.

He added that the public would not respond to disinformation.

When the Turkish parliament passed a law in October 2022 to fight disinformation, critics said the bill, which criminalised “disseminating false information” with a prison sentence of up to three years, would stifle access to information and deepen online censorship.

The government and its supporters argued that it was essential to restrict misleading and possibly malevolent information spreading.

Muharrem Ince, shown here in Ankara, on June 25, 2018, withdrew from last year’s presidential elections [Burhan Ozbilici/AP Photo]

“We are faced with a type of disinformation that aims to influence the election results,” Oguzhan Bilgin, a TRT board member and director of the Istanbul-based Diplomacy Foundation, said.

He pointed to the withdrawal of one of four presidential candidates in last May’s election as an example of disinformation directly affecting the democratic process.

Muharrem Ince pulled out three days before the vote, citing fake sex pictures posted online as one of his reasons for quitting.

However, Bilgin conceded that the impact of disinformation was “highly debatable”.

While opposition figures have accused the AK Party of being behind fake content such as the Imamoglu video, the method by which such disinformation is spread often makes it difficult to identify its origin.

A video of the CHP presidential candidate seemingly being endorsed by Kurdish armed leaders was shown at AK Party rallies in the lead-up to last year’s presidential election – but President Erdogan acknowledged it was “the product of the quick wits of our young people”.

Amid the murk of politics, groups like Teyit face an uphill battle, according to Saklica.

“Since the spread of misinformation is faster than correct information, it is very difficult to correct misinformation that sticks to the minds of many users like chewing gum,” he said.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Turkey offers to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks as Erdogan hosts Zelenskyy | Russia-Ukraine war News

Erdogan pitches himself as go-between, Zelenskyy indicates Russia would not be invited to the first meeting.

Turkey is ready to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul.

Speaking after their meeting on Friday, Erdogan, who has balanced relations with Moscow and Kyiv throughout the two-year war, spoke of “opportunities that Turkey can provide with its stance”.

“While we continue our solidarity with Ukraine, we will continue our work to end the war with a just peace on the basis of negotiations,” he said.

Zelenskyy said the talks had been “sincere and fruitful”, though he refrained from alluding to the mooted peace summit in a statement released on X after the meeting.

However, the Ukrainian leader, who is on a mission to obtain more munitions and weaponry from allies to halt his foe’s advance on the eastern front, was cited by the Reuters news agency as saying that Russia would not be invited to the first meeting of the summit, due to be held in Switzerland.

Zelenskyy also thanked Erdogan for his efforts in negotiating the release of Ukrainian prisoners “held in Russian prisons and camps under extremely harsh and inhumane conditions”.

Erdogan, who reiterated Turkey’s support for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence”, said he and Zelenskyy had discussed port security, safety in the Black Sea, prisoner exchanges and food security.

Turkey’s strategic location on the Black Sea and its control of the Bosphorus Strait gives it a unique military, political and economic role in the conflict.

Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Turkey hosted failed ceasefire talks between Kyiv and Moscow.

“Both sides have now reached the limit of what they can achieve through war,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said this month.

“We think it’s time to start a dialogue towards a ceasefire.”

In July 2022, Ankara with the United Nations brokered the Black Sea Grain deal, the most significant diplomatic agreement so far reached between Kyiv and Moscow. But Moscow ditched the initiative a year later, complaining that the terms were unfair.

Kyiv has since used an alternative shipping route hugging the coastline to avoid contested international waters.

The Erdogan-Zelenskyy meeting comes a week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Turkish counterpart Fidan at a diplomatic forum in Antalya.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to visit Turkey last month, but postponed the trip, according to Turkish and Russian media citing diplomatic sources. The Kremlin said it is rescheduling the visit.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Turkey rescuers battle to save workers trapped in landslide-hit gold mine | News

Disaster highlights country’s poor safety record, as previous calls to shut down Copler mine went unheeded.

Turkey is under pressure to shut down a gold mine buried by a massive landslide, as hundreds of rescuers battle to save at least nine trapped workers.

The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects said on Wednesday that the government should close the Copler mine in the eastern town of Ilic “immediately”.

The union said its past warnings about a looming disaster had gone unheeded. “All those responsible for the disaster should be held accountable before the judiciary,” it said in a statement. “All environmental impact reports should be cancelled and the plant should be closed immediately.”

Rescuers were deployed to search through cyanide-saturated soil to save the workers, trapped when 10 million cubic metres of sludge rolled over their open pit on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Wednesday that some 1,700 search and rescue personnel, including police and military teams, mine rescuers and volunteers, were deployed to find the mine workers.

Of the nine missing, five people were believed to be in a container hut, three in a vehicle and one in a truck, he said at the disaster site.

Relatives of missing miners arrive after a landslide hit a gold mine operated by Anagold Mining in the Ilic district of Erzincan province, Turkey, January 14, 2024 [Ugur Yildirim via Getty Images]

An investigation has been launched and the authorities said on Wednesday that four people, including the pit’s field manager, had been arrested.

The mine is run by private company Anagold, which has been extracting gold in the region since 2010. Eighty percent of Anagold is owned by SSR Mining, which is based in Denver in the United States, and Turkey-based Lidya Madencilik and Calik Holding.

The mine produced 56,768 ounces (1,609kg) of gold in the third quarter of last year and is SSR’s second-largest producing gold mine.

Cyanide

Rescuers have been searching through a cyanide-laced field in the area, located in Turkey’s mountainous Erzincan province, to find the workers.

Environmentalists fear that cyanide and sulphuric acid used in the gold extraction process could spread into the Euphrates River, which runs from Turkey to neighbouring Syria and Iraq.

The Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change said in a statement that a stream leading to the Euphrates was closed to prevent water pollution. Erzincan Governor Hamza Aydogdu said there was no leakage into the waterway.

But the Ilic Nature and Environment Platform, a local pressure group, said the stream had already mixed with the Euphrates.

“Don’t seal off [the stream], seal off the mine,” the group said.

Poor safety record

The mine was closed down in 2020 following a cyanide leak caused by a burst pipe into the river. It reopened two years later after the company was fined and a cleanup operation was completed.

A Turkish court then fined the company 16.5 million Turkish lire ($537,000 at the current exchange rate). But local efforts to shut it down failed.

Turkey has a poor mine safety record. In 2022, an explosion at the Amasra coal mine on the Black Sea coast killed 41 workers. The country’s worst mining disaster took place in 2014 at a coal mine in Soma, western Turkey, where 301 people were killed.

In the wake of those incidents, engineers warned that safety risks were frequently ignored and inspections not adequately carried out.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Miners feared trapped after massive landslide in Turkiye | Mining

NewsFeed

At least 9 miners are feared to be buried under debris after a massive landslide hit a gold mine in the mountains in eastern Turkiye on Tuesday.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Miners feared trapped after massive landslide in Turkey | Mining

NewsFeed

At least nine miners are feared to be buried under debris after a massive landslide hit a gold mine in the mountains in eastern Turkey on Tuesday.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

In Turkey’s Gaziantep, weddings are dispelling some post-earthquake sadness | News

Gaziantep, Turkey – Gazi Muhtar Pasa Boulevard in downtown Gaziantep, an elegant district of bridal shops and venues in a city known as a wedding destination, is much livelier than a year ago, the sidewalks clear of debris and shattered window glass.

Businesses have been open since the early morning and, despite a drizzle, the street bustles with life and brides-to-be seeking their dream wedding dress – like Aysenur from Pazarcik, who is window-shopping dreamily.

Primary school teacher Diana Hajj Assad, 37, remembers when she, too, was excitedly browsing shop windows in January 2023, not knowing that her big day, scheduled for February, would be called off by a natural disaster.

Dreams shattered and postponed

On February 6, 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked southeastern Turkey and northern Syria at 4:17am, killing more than 50,000 people, displacing millions and causing an estimated $34bn in damage.

In Gaziantep, just 68km (42 miles) from the epicentre, it shattered homes and buildings as well as the dreams of many couples who were about to start their futures together.

Hajj Assad was expecting her fiance, Shareef, to finally fly from Saudi Arabia to Gaziantep to get married after waiting months for his visa – but everything changed overnight.

“It was horrific,” Hajj Assad recalls. “I remember similar fears during the war in Syria.”

Shop windows on Gazi Muhtar Pasa Boulevard are filled with dreamy confections of dresses for brides to celebrate their big day [Giulia Bernacchi/Al Jazeera]

Gaziantep, which is among the bigger and richer Anatolian cities, has had many big bridal shops and wedding venues set up here and, since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, many Syrian refugees like Hajj Assad have settled here.

Some started wedding businesses to cater to the ever-growing Arabic-speaking community, like 36-year-old Reem Masri, who moved to Gaziantep from her native Aleppo, Syria, in 2013.

Masri and her wedding planning agency Dantel were hired in late 2022 to organise Hajj Assad’s big day.

The creative design graduate had not wanted to be one of the thousands of refugees forced to open food ventures to survive – so she set Dantel up in 2016.

After surviving a war, living in exile and enduring her mother’s death from afar, she says the earthquake days were some of the toughest of her life, especially as a single mother of two young girls.

“We were alone in the house when the tremors started shaking our beds,” Masri recalls.

“My first thought was to grab the passports in case we had to run, like during the war. We slept three days in our car, then left for Istanbul by bus with some friends.”

The earthquake came at the busiest time of the year for her – most weddings are in the spring, so the winter is when a lot of phone calls, appointments and shopping happen.

Preparing the Sato Saloon for a wedding celebration [Giulia Bernacchi/Al Jazeera]

That day, Masri lost her home, one of her employees who was visiting family in Hatay, and her only source of income. Before the earthquake, she organised about four weddings a month, but suddenly there were no more events on her agenda.

“I was scared I had to start all over again,” she says.

Finding space for succour

From a city of joy and celebration, Gaziantep became a place of sorrow, with even the places built to celebrate happy moments turned into temporary refuges for the displaced.

Aykut Goktenik, 80, director of the famous Sato Saloon wedding venue in Masal Park, also known as the “fairytale park” – decided to open his venue on the night of February 6 to survivors who were outside in the cold, not knowing how long the emergency would last.

Goktenik has been in event planning for the past 40 years, 13 of those at Sato Saloon. “The night before the earthquake, we organised a henna event, a Turkish traditional ritual that takes place one or two days before a wedding,” Goktenik recalls.

“Within hours, the same saloon turned into a shelter. We were lucky to have a storage full of food for planned events.”

With three big rooms and a maximum capacity of 1,500 people, the building offered a safe refuge to the many displaced in the city. For the first eight days, Sato’s seven staff members volunteered to deliver hot meals to nearly 3,000 people daily.

The Sato facilities were opened for earthquake survivors on February 6 last year to provide them with warmth and safety [Giulia Bernacchi/Al Jazeera]

“Weddings are a symbol of unity and happiness, a very important celebration deeply rooted in Turkish culture,” Goktenik adds. “It was our duty to keep this spirit in our saloon even during the emergency.”

In the 10 provinces affected by the earthquake, weddings were suspended for six weeks after a state of emergency was declared. But even after the suspension was lifted, few were in the mood to celebrate after so many families were wiped out and swaths of homes destroyed, particularly in the surrounding villages, where most Antepians have roots.

Although part of her mother’s family had died in the earthquake, Hajj Assad and her fiance were motivated to resume the wedding preparations. “We had been engaged for four years and it took so much effort for Shareef to get that visa that we felt like we couldn’t wait any more,” Hajj Assad says.

“We also wanted to share some positive moments with our relatives after all the tragedy.”

When Masri received Hajj Assad’s phone call asking her to reschedule the wedding, she burst into tears.

“When the day finally came, I didn’t even remember how to put makeup on, I had lost the habit of getting ready for parties.”

On May 2, Diana and Shareef’s wedding was one of the first to be celebrated after a long period of mourning. Masri has organised three more since then as the summer encouraged people to celebrate life again.

‏‏Last August, Ayhan Kahriman and his Italian partner Giuliana Ciucci celebrated their wedding in a small ceremony with a limited group of friends.

Earthquake survivors huddled in one of the opulent wedding halls [Giulia Bernacchi/Al Jazeera]

They had originally planned their big day for the spring, but Kahriman lost many family members in February in his hometown of Islahiye, one of the most affected areas.

The couple was no longer in the mood for big celebrations. “Even finding wedding rings was a challenge, because the jewellery shop I planned on getting them from closed for months,” Kahriman says.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds visited Kahriman’s village to celebrate with his relatives. “We couldn’t celebrate [traditionally], with drums, a parade and lots of gold as gifts,” Ciucci explains.

“To respect the mourning, wedding celebrations were openly discouraged. So we just sat at a small table and talked quietly while sipping tea. It was not the day I had in mind before the earthquake.”

‏‏Because Gaziantep was spared heavy destruction, many people from other provinces flock there to shop for or celebrate their big day. Masri is currently organising the wedding celebration for Aysenur and her fiance Ali, to be held in a month.

“After having to postpone for one more year our happy day, it’s such a relief to wrap up the last details, it means this time it’s really happening,” says Aysenur, whose hometown in the Kahramanmaras province was heavily destroyed.

“Although it’s a heartache having to celebrate it far from our hometown, but at least we get to celebrate.”

Giulia Bernacchi contributed to reporting from Gaziantep.

A Sato wedding hall being put together for a celebration [Giulia Bernacchi/Al Jazeera]

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version