Turkey mourns losses of dozens after Ankara attack

ANKARA

After the bodies of 35 victims of the March 13 suicide car bomb attack in the capital city of Ankara were delivered to their families by the authorities, funeral ceremonies were held all across the country on March 15, as Turkey continued to be gripped by a growing sense of distress and unease following a series of deadly attacks in recent months. 

The bodies of the victims were delivered late on March 14 after their autopsies were completed by the Forensic Medicine Institute in Ankara, while some 48 wounded victims were still being treated at hospitals, eight of them in intensive care.

Since the attack was carried out on one of the busiest roads in the metropolis close to public bus stops, the victims varied in age, yet a considerable number of them were young, including high school and university students.

One of them was Atakan Eray Özyol, 15, who was killed as he was waiting for a bus to return home after attending tutorial courses. Özyol was laid to rest in Ankara, as his teachers and friends held a separate ceremony at his school. The school’s principal couldn’t hold his tears back, while Özyol’s friends laid carnations on his regular desk in his classroom.

Another victim, Kemal Bulut, was the father of Galatasaray international striker Umut Bulut, who was in Ankara on March 13 for his team’s away game against Ankara’s Gençlerbirliği. Kemal Bulut was killed while returning home from the stadium, where he had gone to watch his son play. 

Kemal Bulut was laid to rest in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri after a funeral which was attended by the entire Galatasaray team and coach Fatih Terim. 

“I’m very sorry. I dream of a country where families go to work and children go to school with joy every morning. Let’s claim our country,” Terim told reporters. 

“Your father comes to your match, as he feels proud of you. You assume that he returned home, but he loses his life,” he said, reflecting his despair.

A Galatasaray flag was placed over the elder Bulut’s coffin.

“This world is very insecure, I’m sending you away to a more secure place my little one,” Hacer Parlak, who lost her daughter, 16-year-old Destina Peri Parlak, in the bombing. The mother and daughter had been living alone, as Destina’s father had died when her mother was two months pregnant with her. 

A bridal veil and a flag of Beşiktaş, which Destina supported, were put on her coffin at the funeral held in Ankara. 

“I’m sending you away to your father. From now on your father will look after you,” Hacer Parlak said, while screaming and crying.