HATAY - While history, culture and state were left under the rubble in Hatay, which experienced great destruction in the earthquake, civil society and citizen solidarity that came to the aid of earthquake victims became hope for the future.

 

In Hatay, one of the provinces that experienced the greatest destruction after the Maraş which is epicenter of earthquakes, most of the city was destroyed. While Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Lütfi Savaş said that 80 percent of the city should be rebuilt, there was a great destruction in the central Antakya and Defne districts, as well as in Samandağ and İskenderun districts. Especially in the central districts, the buildings were destroyed to a large extent, while the few remaining buildings were heavily damaged. According to the statement of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, 71 thousand 735 independent units in 15 thousand 248 buildings are heavily damaged and in ruins that need urgent demolition.

 

While there was such a heavy destruction in the city, search and rescue efforts started at the end of the third day in the city, whose population is predominantly Arab-Alevi. During the first 3 days, rescue efforts from under the rubble continued only with the work of volunteer teams and citizens. On the day that President Erdogan came to the city and called the citizens "dishonest", the teams that arrived had a serious lack of equipment. Hundreds of volunteers, consisting of construction, mining, municipality and metal workers, struggled to save lives in the city, where AFAD had almost no debris. Citizens who were taken out of the rubble on the first day waited for their relatives under the rubble under the rain for hours.

 

RACISM

 

The state, which did not extend a helping hand to the region as well as search and rescue efforts, responded days later to the citizens who revolted that 'there is no state here'. The state, which sent hundreds of soldiers and police to the region, used them for torture, not for search and rescue or aid. Lawyers in the region stated that there were many violations of rights in the city, while the racist atmosphere in the social media fueled the culture of lynching. Many citizens who wanted to enter their homes to get their belongings were battered either by the public or by the law enforcement. One of them, Ahmet Güreşçi, died under torture after the gendarmerie detained him. Many citizens were attacked in front of their homes. Especially after the attacks on Syrian refugees, refugees were unable to leave their regions. While aid did not reach the refugees who could not leave their neighborhoods, hundreds of refugees who stayed in the barracks they set up were condemned to cold and hunger.

 

'TERRORISTS' RUN TO HELP 

 

In Hatay, where a great sense of sadness and dereliction collapsed, the streets began to empty at the end of the first week. Realizing that the rebuilding of the city would take years, the people of Hatay started to leave the city where they lived. The city, which has been abandoned to its fate for years due to its Arab-Alevi identity, felt this more severely during the earthquake. While the city, where there is not a single livable building left, gradually turned into a ghost city, the revolutionaries who rushed to the aid of the people from the first day extended a helping hand to all parts of the city. The revolutionaries, who ran to all the needs of the people, especially food, tents and clothing, did not neglect their psychological support. Many MHP citizens we met realized that people who were introduced as "terrorists" came to their aid, not the state they had been behind for years. No one in the city will ever be the same again.

 

IT WILL BE BORN FROM THE ASH

 

Hatay, one of the biggest examples of the city being composed of civilizations, not buildings, may have been destroyed. But there is hope that people will rebuild the city in accordance with its original form. The people of Hatay, who left the city saying "We will return one day", will come back to the city where they left their hopes and past, and live their culture again. 

 

MA / Tolga Guney