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Turkey says goodbye to Tokat martyrs
The funeral of Gendarmerie Pvt. Cengiz Sarıbaş took place in İstanbul at noon. İstanbul Governor Muammer Güler, Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Abdulkadir Aksu, Democrat Party (DP) leader Hüsamettin Cindoruk, military officials and many relatives of the slain soldier attended the funeral.
Güler tried to console Sarıbaş’s grieving father during the ceremony. Sarıbaş was buried at the Edirnekapı Cemetery following the noon prayer.
Pvt. Ferit Demir, also killed in the Tokat attack, was buried after a funeral ceremony following the noon prayer yesterday in Malazgirt, Muş province. Participants of the ceremony chanted slogans against terrorist organizations and pledged that Turkey would never be divided.
 The mother of Pvt. Cengiz Sarıbaş attended the fallen soldier’s funeral with a Turkish flag in her hands. The grieving woman condemned terrorist attacks against security forces. |
Muş Governor Erdoğan Bektaş said mothers weep for their sons. “Everyone says mothers will no longer cry. But some people continue to make mothers cry. We have become speechless,” he noted. AK Party Muş deputy Seracettin Karayağız said the Tokat assault was aimed at dragging the country into an atmosphere of chaos.
A funeral was held in Yumurtalık, Adana province, for noncommissioned officer Harun Arslanbay. In addition to deputies, local governors and city officers, a large group of locals attended the funeral. Arslanbay was buried in the family cemetery in Sugözü village.
Arslanbay’s wife, Demet, attended her husband’s funeral with their two daughters. Energy and Natural Sources Minister Taner Yıldız told the Arslanbay family that the perpetrators of the bloody attack would be captured soon.
The fourth soldier, Fatih Yonca, was buried in his hometown of İskenderun, in southern Turkey. Hundreds of people who gathered in front of the mosque ahead of the funeral prayer chanted slogans against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin, AK Party deputies Orhan Karasayar, Fevzi Şanverdi, Abdülhadi Kahya and Mustafa Öztürk attended the ceremony.
 Four more soldiers killed in a terrorist attack in Tokat on Monday were buried yesterday following funeral services in their hometowns. |
Yonca’s father, Bülent Yonca, was moved to tears when he saw his son’s remains lying in a coffin in the mosque’s garden. “May our country live long. I am ready to send my second son to martyrdom,” he said. Yonca was buried in the Bekbele Cemetery.
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