On the south of Reyhanlı Municipal building, at 100 meters distance from District Police Department in the west, and on the north of settlements where Syrian refugees live and the mosque where they perform prayer, the first one of two bomb-laden cars blew up.
The back of the Municipal building, where the bomb exploded, and also the neighborhood we call the “crossroads” where bazaar is set up on Thursdays. The vehicle is parked under the power transformer on the south of Municipal building.
In this area is found a photography, barber, glassware and souvenir shop, grocery store, poulterer, a beauty salon, engineering office, womenswear store, real estate agency, and a patisserie. The bomb-laden vehicle is parked right across those shops. There are peddlers, commercial vehicles and private cars on the same street. On the other side of the street is found Atatürk Street, namely Antakya route, on the way to Yenişehir district from the city center. There are all kinds of craftsmen, shops and offices on this route. Besides, on the Atatürk Street is found apartment buildings and houses, where mostly Syrian tenants live.
At this point I would like to share something that should be underlined and read over and over again. Syrian refugees who migrated from Idlib province and districts of Syria settled in the neighborhood where the first car bomb exploded. My personal opinion is that Syrian refugees fleeing from Idlib were targeted in the car bomb explosion. Because the Syrians who were injured and killed in the neighborhood are those coming from Idlib. Of course, Turkish citizens were also injured, became permanently disabled and were killed in the blast. There are still people in intensive care and to be under long-term treatment.
I do not know exactly what the death toll in the area is as a result of the Reyhanlı bombing. However, as far as I asked, 10 people might have been killed. Two of them are Syrian citizens, while the rest of them are Turkish citizens. And those who were injured are quite a lot.
The shops and settlements near the explosion were devastated. Some of them are totally destroyed, and some are partially damaged. Some 500 meters of Atatürk Street is full of damaged shops and destroyed settlements as a result of glass explosions, as well as fall of shelves and furnitures. In this neighborhood, at least in an area of 300 square meters, window glasses of houses were broken, doors were shaken, and window frames fell.
The area where the second explosion took place is right in front of the PTT building in central Reyhanlı. Office buildings, Halk Bank, commercial offices and teaching institutions are found on the right and left hand side of the PTT building.
It was a total massacre that took place in the area. The first and second bombs exploded within 5 minutes of each other. I was at a coffeehouse some 300 meters away from PTT building in city center. It was 13:00. When the explosion took place, the window glasses of shops in the neighborhood entered at the coffeehouse I was in. Balcony of the coffeehouse was filled up with shrapnel and window frame pieces. Some people were slightly injured. That area got off lightly, but the city center was totally damaged.
The PTT building is located at the beginning of Atatürk Street. On the one side is found Cumhuriyet Street, while on the other side is found Kanatlı Street, former municipal building, city center, municipal passage, all kinds of shops and mosque in the city center. There is a big financial damage covering the whole neighborhood. Also, in an area of at least 300 m2, houses were damaged as a result of the blast. Some rooftops collapsed, and some balconies were damaged. There was a great number broken glasses. Craftsmen were damaged to a great extent.
Causes of Death in the Second Explosion
The first cause: While it was a wide street where the vehicle was parked in the first bombing, the street where the second bomb-laden vehicle was parked on was a narrow street of maximum 20 meters, including pavements. The PTT building and the office buildings across, on the right and left of the building are attached buildings. When the vehicle blew up in this narrow area, it echoed a lot and residential areas were damaged.
The second cause: As the first explosion took place next to the municipal building, it both scared and worried people in the city center. Most people hopped on their vehicles, motorcycles and headed out to go to the municipal building. However, the accumulation in front of PTT building caused to congestion of the street. It was when the explosion took place.
Maybe it was the plan. Taxi drivers, motorcyclers, people getting off their work, customers of coffeehouses nearby, students, and those waiting in the ATM line in front of bank… The whole crowd was stuck in an area of some 100 meters, and the bomb-laden vehicle was right in the middle. The traffic jam, and pavements full of people led to a disaster with huge death toll in the neighborhood.
Some hundred people were killed in the explosion and almost two hundred people were injured. On the other hand, there are hundreds of shops that were destroyed, and burned to ground. Another point that grabs attention and should be highlighted is that;
First of all, there are too many shops in the neighborhood and 90 percent of the residents who live here here are from Idlib province, Syria.
Secondly, why Saturday? Didn't those murderers who made this plan and committed suicides know that saturday was holiday? They knew it. If it had taken place on a weekday, we could have called it a second “Hiroshima” for Reyhanlı. Because it would be a total disaster including municipal employees, bank employees, other people who work in the neighborhood, police building, nursery school right next to the police building, craftsmen, grocery, shops, bazaar. If it had been a workday or a pay day at Halk Bank or at PTT building, where the second car bombing took place, thousands of people could have been killed.
Trucking companies have been most damaged by the car bombing that exploded in front of PTT. White-collar workers of those companies were killed. I wonder if the neighborhood was targeted because of the RO-RO service of those drivers? Were truck drivers, trucking companies targeted on purpose? It is a point to take into consideration.
There are some 60 thousand Syrian refugees in Reyhanlı, and 75 percent of them are from Idlib province; while others are from Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Damascus and Latakia.
In Reyhanlı, there are many restaurants that cook Syrian dishes, bread and desserts. Besides, there are goldsmiths, phone shops, second-hand equipment stores, taxi-cab and truck operators in the area. There are tens of people who make their living off peddling things at a stand. Those who cannot afford to buy it sell coffee, tea, cigarette, lemon thyme, turkish bagels, pastry, turkish delight and halvah on cardboards or in plastic bags. On the other hand, some do not own anything, thus work as porter, work in coffeehouses, restaurants and as agricultural laborer in fields.
There were those who paid 1500 TL for rent to stay at a fully furnished apartment. And also those who rent houses in slums for 200-300 TL. While some bought the best vegetables and fruit from luxury markets and groceries, some others collected fruit and vegetable from garbages at the end of bazaar in the neighborhood.
People asked for help and everyday waited in lines to receive aid provided by aid organizations such as Kimse Yok mu, Ufuk-Der (Reyhanlı Ufuk Eğitim Derneği), İHH (Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief) and Syrian El Selam al-Ittihad and Al Arabit al Huvviyye providing financial aid, food, clothing, refrigerator and blankets.
Aid collected by people from Middle Eastern countries, as well as Middle Eastern and Muslim people who live in Europe, reached some Syrians in Reyhanlı. And they sent them to both those who stay in Reyhanlı and also the tent cities in Bab el Hava and Atma. But there were also Syrians who reacted, protested and cried out due to the inequitable distribution.
On the other hand, there were those who came from Syria broke, but had millions of dollars in Reyhanlı. Syrians knew each other, and saw their compatriots began to live at luxury houses and bought luxury cars after receiving aid. To put it in a nutshell, Syrians who fled from oppression tyrannized one another in Reyhanlı. Everyone distributed aid they received to their relatives and people they know, so others could not receive aid at all. Namely, unequal and inhumane treatment prevailed in sharing.
I saw Syrians begging for bread and vegetable from door to door. I saw people sitting at cafés, restaurants in Yenişehir at night. I saw girls, women who smoked water pipe. In the same neighborhood, I also came across Syrians who waited in line to get the remaining bread and food.
I saw people who worked for 15 TL a day, but paid 200 TL for rent and 60 TL for their electricity and water bills in a month. There were people living with their 5 children in a single-room apartment. I saw apartments where 3-4 families, some 25 people, lived together. And also large apartments furnished luxuriously with only three people living in it.
Political Impressions from Reyhanlı Before and After the Bombing
A week before 11 May 2013, people from Reyhanlı, including CHP and MHP party members in majority and also those from AK Party marched by saying that, “We don't want the Syrians here any more”. Some Syrians were manhandled, and some vehicles were damaged. Syrians did not go out as much as possible. That was the reason why not many Syrians died in the aforesaid bombing. However, opposition parties did not reflect it the way it was to their party members who came to Reyhanlı. For instance, when CHP delegation came to Reyhanlı, in the condolence tent of our family, I saw CHP Party Leader Kılıçdaroğlu, Party's deputy leader Nihat Matkap, MP Hasan Akgöl, MP Refik Eryılmaz and former MP Fuat Çay. There were both provincial and district board members of the party. Their statements were recorded by press members, the information they obtained as well as impressions they had were different. The statements did not reflect the reality. Because it was not even mentioned that the march a week before the bombing scared and worried Syrians, and thus the fact that not many Syrians were injured and only a few vehicles were damaged was not reflected, or was reflected but they did not mention it. Likewise, MHP made a similar statement. They were not told about the march, or they did not mention it did not suit their book.
It is a desperate situation!The bombing is inhumane, and the pain is to be cursed. There are both pro-Assad supporters among the Syrians, and also insensitive people who do not care about anything and can live anywhere as they are wealthy. The fact that all Syrians are equated and are equally under suspicion is as desperate as those tragic events.
Some people and political parties in Reyhanlı cannot understand the importance and severity of the situation, or they do not care and they act cruelly, mercilessly. In such a complex table, Syrians who live in Reyhanlı were pointed as a target, and people in Reyhanlı were split into two parts in terms of opinion. There are families who have mercy on Syrians, employ them, and secretly provide aid. In Reyhanlı, Syrians were stoned, insulted, humiliated and threatened. Also in very same Reyhanlı, Syrians were welcomed, and provided with aid. Friendships were formed, some Turkish and Syrian people married and started a family. Relationships by affinity expanded, and got stronger. Some reacted against it. There is such a paradox.
The aforesaid split to be used in the elections process in the future would be a major trouble for Reyhanlı. The local elections to be held in 2014 will be unrestful.
Syrians' leaving Reyhanlı started before the explosion and it still continues. Rich Syrians to all across Turkey, and the poor back to their hometown. Those who continue to stay in Reyhanlı do not go out, and live a prisoner's life through the help of their close neighbors who buy bread, food for them. They are waiting for the decisions to be taken by the government. They will act accordingly. They will either go to somewhere else in Turkey or move back to Syria. They are also aware of the fact that Reyhanlı is split into two parts. Because while their neighbors are nice to them, other neighbors turn their back on them and insult them. Although they do not know Turkish, they can sense it.
Briefly, people to whom we opened our doors, and we showed affection in the first place started to hate us, and we started hate them. Of course it applies to only a group of people. There are also those who have mercy on Syrians.
“You were shaken and wretched by the two bombings. You were shocked and lost yourself. We were subject to tens of bombing attacks everyday. Hundreds of people died. We were not shaken that much. Our own government dropped bombs on us. You, on the other hand, are bombed by an unknown organization. You are in a great pain and you are right, but some people exaggerate the situation in terms of Syrians,” said a Syrian.
My Experiences During the Bombing and Afterwards
Reyhanlı is my hometown. The local people are my friends, relatives, compatriots, my everything.
The fact that the city burned into flames, people cried out in pain shocked me. I felt really bad and shed tears.
When the bomb-laden vehicle blew up, I was on the way home. I received a phone call from my wife. My daughter was in the tutoring center. The one right across the PTT building where the second bomb exploded. “Go and find our daughter!” she said.
When I arrived in front of the PTT building, casualties were everywhere in an area of 100 meters. Cars, shops were all on fire. The tutoring center was totally destroyed. The entrance door, windows, and rooftop had blown up, and the building was in flames. There were at least 150 students there. And my daughter was among them.
There was neither door nor stairs to step in the building burning in flames. Smokes were everywhere. While looking at bodies, I was also looking for my daughter among other people batting around. But she was not there. I received another phone call an hour later. One of the parents had taken my daughter to hospital. Since the Reyhanlı Hospital was full, they had gone to Kirikhan which is the closest one nearby. I became weaker and started to cry when I arrived there.
It was around 15:30 when we came home. My daughter was slightly injured. Broken pieces of glass had injured her hands. She was still in shock, and in a state of fear. But she could come back home safe and sound.
When I arrived in the neighborhood, I heard that 2 of my close relatives and 6 distant relatives on a tribal basis had been killed. We had 8 funerals. I participated in some 20 funeral ceremonies of neighbors, children and nephews/nieces of my friends.
Reyhanlı Cemetary was bursting at the steams. On the one hand graves were being dug, and on the other hand bodies were buried. There was a tragedy among those buried side by side, cries, mournings, tears. Those who came to visit us to express their condolences told us about other people's death.
Three dead bodies were found near PTT on May 14th. Manhole cover blew up during the bombing. 3 people fell into the manhole in that chaos and panic. Someone else who saw the manhole cover open pushed and closed it to prevent people from falling down. But he could not see those who already fell down. Those three people stayed there and died. And they could be found only three days after the bombing.
