Families remember loved ones at cemeteries

ISTANBUL

Cemeteries on July 15 were full with families of those who lost their lives while trying to stop the July 15, 2016 coup attempt.

Families prayed, left flowers and hung Turkish flags at the grave markers of their beloved ones.

Among them was the Hasbal family who lost Cengiz Hasbal on Istanbul’s Bosporus Bridge – renamed the July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge after the coup attempt.

Cengiz Hasbal resisted the coup attempt along with his brother, Hüseyin, on that night. Their father, Ahmet Hasbal, told Anadolu Agency that his sons were at the forefront of a group of people who headed to the bridge, which had been barricaded by putschist forces.

“When they arrived at the bridge, [the putschists] opened fire on them. Cengiz was shot by the second volley of bullets. The bullets went past Hüseyin, but Cengiz collapsed,” Ahmet Hasbal said.

“We went [to Istanbul] the next day, but Cengiz was martyred 19 days later.”

Hasbal said the pain over the loss of his son never leaves him.

“There is not a single day over the last three years that we have forgotten him,” he said. “The people who were martyred for their country and nation are unforgettable.”

Another family that remembered their son was the Baysan family.

When he was killed, Ufuk Baysan was serving as a chief of police in the Special Forces Command in Gölbaşı, a district in Ankara, Turkey’s capital.

“July 15 is a painful memory for myself and families with martyrs like us,” Ramazan Baysan, Ufuk’s father, told Anadolu Agency.

“It is unacceptable to bomb ordinary people, no matter if they were elderly, or young people, or children or the Turkish Parliament,” Baysan said.

On the loss of his son, Baysan said: “No matter how much the pain is suppressed, it doesn’t disappear. Every day and hour, my son is before my eyes, but we have to accept the situation.”

Hanife Baysan, Ufuk Baysan’s mother, called July 15, 2016, the hardest day for her.

“I’m proud that he was martyred, but my heart also aches,” she said.