As they left Antakya, Turkey’s earthquake-shattered home of ancient civilisations, its anguished residents scribbled farewell messages on the ruins: “We’ll come back” and “Don’t lose hope.”
Last month’s deadly 7.8-magnitude quake and its aftershocks came down hard on Antakya — a fabled city near Syria once known as Antioch — ravaging centuries of treasured history.
Now, its residents fear the city they eventually return to will lack the vibrance and tradition of cultural acceptance that distinguished Antakya from the rest of Turkey until disaster struck on February 6, claiming more than 50,000 lives.
“In Turkey, those who are not Turkish and Sunni Muslim are seen as rare objects worthy of a museum. But in Antakya, it was different,” said Emre Can Daglioglu, a volunteer for Nehna, an online platform dedicated to Antakya’s Orthodox Christian culture.
“The church was at the centre of daily life, just as much as the synagogue was. Your tailor could be Jewish or Christian, and your grocer could be Alevi or Armenian,” he said.
“They lived their identities openly and celebrated their holidays together.”
Rush to rebuild
Framed by mountains running between the Mediterranean Sea and Turkey’s border with Syria, Antakya was home to Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Persian, Arab and Ottoman empires over more than two millennia.
It was even briefly placed under a French mandate, before becoming part of modern Turkey in 1939.
Arab speaking Muslim and Christian communities lived in harmony with Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Greeks and Jews.
This multicultural life and attitude — its “soul”, according to some residents — is now in peril.
Some point with worry to Diyarbakir, a mostly Kurdish city further to the east.
Its historic Sur district was destroyed during clashes between the Turkish army and outlawed militants in 2015-16. Locals lament that the rebuilding project failed to recapture the charm and spirit of what was lost.
Under fire for his government’s slow response to the disaster and facing a difficult re-election on May 14, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to rebuild the entire quake-hit region within a year.
He has issued a decree giving his government the right to take ownership of the destroyed property and adopting urban renewal projects that cannot be discussed or appealed by residents of the affected provinces.
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