22-year-old becomes 33rd activist to die in Suruç bombing

ŞANLIURFA

Mert Cömert, a 22-year-old Black Sea activist who was injured in the July 20 Suruç suicide bombing, succumbed to his injuries on the morning of Aug. 14.

Cömert, who was from the Black Sea province of Samsun, became the 33rd activist from the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) to die in the attack, 26 days after Abdurrahman Alagöz, a sympathizer of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the eastern province of Adıyaman, detonated a bomb during a press statement in the garden of the southeastern district of Suruç’s Amara Cultural Center.

Cömert, who had been receiving treatment in a Şanlıurfa hospital, will be laid to rest in Samsun.

The SGDF had organized a trip to Suruç and Kobane to hand out toys to children affected by ISIL’s attack on the Kurdish canton, as well as help in the rebuilding effort.

In the wake of the July 20 attack, Cömert had come to prominence when social media postings immediately prior to his departure for Suruç were published.

“It would be great if we don’t die, but if we do, don’t forget us – post about us all the time and say that the rebellious son of the Black Sea has become a martyr in Kobane,” he jokingly told a friend.

“I believe I’m going there to represent our Black Sea in a good way,” he wrote, noting that he would be showing a different side to the Turkish region, which is a traditional hotbed of anti-Kurdish, nationalist Turkish sentiment.