Culture
Culture
Posted on Feb 25, 2023
Turkey's Antakya is in ruins after the quake, erasing cultural and religious heritage
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https://www.npr.org/2023/02/25/ [login to see] /turkey-earthquake-antakya-antioch-religions-cultural-heritage-ruins
Yusuf Kocaoglu, a professional guide, leads us on a tour he never wanted to give.
The site of ancient Antioch — a crossroads of civilizations and a modern tourist and religious pilgrimage destination in southern Turkey — is one of the cities left most devastated by the Feb. 6 earthquake that killed tens of thousands in Turkey and Syria.
For 10 years, Kocaoglu, a native of the city, led tours of its historical core, guiding visitors from around the world. It has now suffered near-total destruction. The bazaar, the breakfast place he'd take tourists, the local hangouts — all are decimated.
"There is no place now I can take you because all of them are destroyed," he says. "Most of the people left the city."
Built around 300 BCE, the city, now called Antakya, has survived several previous calamitous earthquakes. Now, Turkish military vehicles, on patrol to keep the peace, roll past entire streets reduced to rubble. Bodies are still believed to be rotting under the debris.
Yusuf Kocaoglu, a professional guide, leads us on a tour he never wanted to give.
The site of ancient Antioch — a crossroads of civilizations and a modern tourist and religious pilgrimage destination in southern Turkey — is one of the cities left most devastated by the Feb. 6 earthquake that killed tens of thousands in Turkey and Syria.
For 10 years, Kocaoglu, a native of the city, led tours of its historical core, guiding visitors from around the world. It has now suffered near-total destruction. The bazaar, the breakfast place he'd take tourists, the local hangouts — all are decimated.
"There is no place now I can take you because all of them are destroyed," he says. "Most of the people left the city."
Built around 300 BCE, the city, now called Antakya, has survived several previous calamitous earthquakes. Now, Turkish military vehicles, on patrol to keep the peace, roll past entire streets reduced to rubble. Bodies are still believed to be rotting under the debris.
Turkey's Antakya is in ruins after the quake, erasing cultural and religious heritage
Posted from npr.org
Turkey
Religion
Culture
Heritage
Natural Disaster
Posted 1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Beer among the ruins
Part of Pasha Restaurant still stands amidst the rubble in Antakya.
The Lonely Planet guide to Turkey summarizes Antakya's charm in a sentence: "Atmospheric old-town fragments cling on amid the modern hubbub." Today, a narrow street of bars and restaurants lies in waste.
For the first time on the tour, Kocaoglu turns away to cry.
"This is the heart of Antakya," he says. "We had lots of memories here with my friends, with my guests from different countries. I remember them."
A bulldozer has paved a hilly path through the wreckage. Amid rubble stands one of his favorite old haunts, the Pasha Restaurant, sliced down the middle. Owner Orhan Uyanik, salvaging crates of beer from the ruins, wonders about the fate of a couple who got engaged here recently.
Orhan Uyanik (left), the owner of Pasha Restaurant in Antakya, sits in the rubble and opens one of the remaining beers that survived the quake.
Claire Harbage / NPR
Orhan Uyanik (left), the owner of Pasha Restaurant in Antakya, sits in the rubble and opens one of the remaining beers that survived the quake.
Despite the cataclysmic loss, Kocaoglu, and all those we meet along the way, cling to the Turkish government's promise to rebuild Antakya and its historic sites - and take solace in how the city has rebounded through the ages.
The city "was ruined by the earthquakes six or seven times. Maybe this is the eighth. It doesn't matter," says Kocaoglu. "We will try to do something for our city again and again."
..."Beer among the ruins
Part of Pasha Restaurant still stands amidst the rubble in Antakya.
The Lonely Planet guide to Turkey summarizes Antakya's charm in a sentence: "Atmospheric old-town fragments cling on amid the modern hubbub." Today, a narrow street of bars and restaurants lies in waste.
For the first time on the tour, Kocaoglu turns away to cry.
"This is the heart of Antakya," he says. "We had lots of memories here with my friends, with my guests from different countries. I remember them."
A bulldozer has paved a hilly path through the wreckage. Amid rubble stands one of his favorite old haunts, the Pasha Restaurant, sliced down the middle. Owner Orhan Uyanik, salvaging crates of beer from the ruins, wonders about the fate of a couple who got engaged here recently.
Orhan Uyanik (left), the owner of Pasha Restaurant in Antakya, sits in the rubble and opens one of the remaining beers that survived the quake.
Claire Harbage / NPR
Orhan Uyanik (left), the owner of Pasha Restaurant in Antakya, sits in the rubble and opens one of the remaining beers that survived the quake.
Despite the cataclysmic loss, Kocaoglu, and all those we meet along the way, cling to the Turkish government's promise to rebuild Antakya and its historic sites - and take solace in how the city has rebounded through the ages.
The city "was ruined by the earthquakes six or seven times. Maybe this is the eighth. It doesn't matter," says Kocaoglu. "We will try to do something for our city again and again."
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
SGT (Join to see) I Did a Year on Adak, Largest Earthquake I Remember was 5.6, Anything Worse? I'll Pass!
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Quakes have a tendency to do that. We have a fault line running along the east side of the Franklin's right by our VA and now vacant Army Hospital. It's capable of a 7.0 quake. If such a quake hit here there would be no city. No I-10.
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