Easter for earthquake victims in Syria and Turkey

On 6 February, a devastating earthquake struck southern Turkey and the northern part of the Syrian Arab Republic, in which more than 50,000 people lost their lives and more than 100,000 were injured. As a result, thousands of families live in temporary shelters and struggle to obtain food and other essentials. 

Two months later, continuous aftershocks are preventing even people whose homes were not damaged by the earthquake from returning home, increasing the number of displaced people. This further exacerbates the needs of the affected communities, who urgently need shelter and assistance.

"This Easter 2023 was certainly special for the two fraternities in Turkey (the one in İstanbul and the one in Bornova in Izmir). The friars made the friary and other houses available to receive people," says Br Adrian Eloza, missionary in Turkey, who continues, "İn such a situation, it happens that everything stops working: electricity first, then the internet, communications, then gas and water. We now have to work on reconstruction in every sense. This year we celebrated Easter in communion with the Minister General. The two fraternities are in charge of several parishes, with more or less similar situations: with the Turks, especially in Izmir, where there is good work with catechumens, Levantines (Italians, French, English, etc.), many people from Africa, the Philippines, South America. Our communities are small entities that we accompany in their stay and growth in the faith. Our days are usually marked by this work and community life: prayer in common, the Eucharist and fraternity life. This year, Easter time overlaps with Ramadan by a few days. We organised an iftar (the dinner that breaks the fast) with Muslim friends with whom we share our life in Turkey. When we think of dialogue, we also think of these small everyday things that bring us closer together".

Br Bahjat Karakach, Syria, added: "There is a sense of despair and fear, unfortunately after the earthquake, I hear talk of emigration. People think of finding somewhere else to go and survive. We celebrated the Easter celebrations with a spirit of hope, but we are discouraged by the desires of the population to flee. Yet, in all this, we have experienced the resurrection".

The Syrian diaspora is still a very painful phenomenon. Since 2011, in ten years of the humanitarian crisis in Syria and since the beginning of the war, 6 million Syrians have fled abroad, and 7 million have been internally displaced. The Syrian people have been living in a humanitarian crisis for ten years.

The response of the friars  

In Aleppo, Syria, the Franciscan pastor of the Latin parish, Br Bahjat Karakach, tells us: "Immediately after the earthquake, we announced that we would welcome people into our church and shelter them from the cold and rain, and so did many other churches". 

In Aleppo, the Christian structures are on the front line in helping the displaced people: "We have three friaries in the city," concludes Bahjat, "and all three welcome displaced people according to their capacity: in our friary in the centre of the city, we welcome about 500 people; in the Holy Land college, further out, about 2,000, also having spaces outdoors, while the secondary church accommodates about fifty people. We serve three meals a day. No one wants to go home because people fear other, stronger tremors. The temperatures continue to drop, even below zero; therefore, we keep the places warm for the children".

Also in Syria, Br Hanna Jallouf, a Syrian Franciscan from the Custody of the Holy Land and another friar, serves the Orontes Valley villages of Knayeh, Yacoubieh and Gidaideh in the Idlib area in northern Syria. "Before the 2011 war, we Christians were 10,000 in these three villages, then after the war, only 210 families. Everyone has fled; only we, two Franciscan friars, have remained to serve these people because we are convinced that it is a blessed land where St Paul passed through. We are 43km from Antioch and 6km from the Turkish border. Rebel factions passed through this area and seized many goods, land and houses up to 2018. After that, they returned friary land and slowly returned people's land. We are under Islamic Sharia control". A parish priest in Knaye, Father Hanna, was kidnapped on the night of 5 October 2014 in Syria by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front and 16 parishioners and released a few days later. "On 6 February, the earthquake did major damage. Eighty per cent of the houses of our faithful are on the ground, everything else damaged and looted, and our church is out of action, half-destroyed. Not a single person was injured among Christians, at most a couple, but there were many deaths among non-Christians. I consider this a miracle. Today we are removing all the rubble and want to restore life to these three villages. Our faithful are under tents in our friaries, despite the 11-year war. We have remained here to serve, suffer with them, and give them a piece of bread, living like everyone else".

In Turkey, the earthquake did extensive damage and shocked the population. The earthquake here affected several cities, especially Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, and places where the Catholic Church has been present for many years: Antioch (that famous Antioch of the Orontes) called Antioch of Syria) and Alexandreta (Turkish: İskenderun). The latter is the seat of the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia. Therefore, the whole country has mobilised to collaborate and help in this catastrophe unprecedented in the last hundred years. 

The Franciscan initiative to help and support earthquake-affected communities

A little over two months after the catastrophic event, the Franciscan Order is listening to the needs of the local population, thanks to the Franciscan friars present in the territories, to then be able to start relevant long- and medium-term aid programmes. "I continue to express, on behalf of the General Definitory and the entire Order of Friars Minor, the closeness of the Franciscans to the stricken populations, to the families, to those who have been left homeless and remember the victims in prayer," said Minister General Br Massimo Fusarelli. He added, "I invite everyone to support the programmes and works of the Franciscan family in Turkey and Syria through Fondazione OFM Fraternitas. 
May the Almighty and Merciful Lord have mercy on all and keep all in His love".