05.02.2025 14:21
Abdulkadir Yüksel, who works as a gassal in Diyarbakır, stated that he washes an average of 40 bodies a day due to the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş. He said, "There were smiling funerals. There were different kinds of funerals. I witnessed one of them. When I washed the hand, it was closed. The more I tried to open it, the more it closed. With the Shahada, the hand kept closing again and again."
Two years have passed since the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş. In Diyarbakır, one of the 11 cities affected by the earthquakes, 6 buildings were destroyed, and 413 people lost their lives. Abdulkadir Yüksel, who works as a mortician in the Cemetery and Funeral Services Branch of the Health Affairs Department of the Metropolitan Municipality, stated that he provided uninterrupted service for 24 hours during the earthquake and washed 80% of the corpses.
Yüksel noted that there were corpses that remained under the rubble for 4, 5, 10, and 14 days, expressing that he washed about 35-40 corpses a day. Yüksel said, "The corpses that came here were in pieces. There were corpses with their eyes popped out and those that were split in half. Different corpses were coming here. These types of corpses need to be washed with tayammum (dry ablution). Because they were in 6-7-8 pieces. Since I didn't feel comfortable morally, I washed all the corpses with water. I performed all the religious duties that were required."
"THERE WAS A SMILING CORPSE" Yüksel stated, "There was a smiling corpse. When you looked at it, it was really smiling. There were different corpses. I witnessed one of them. When I washed its hand, it was closed. The more I tried to open it, the more it closed. Its hand kept closing again and again with the Shahada (the declaration of faith). We were working with a female mortician friend. The female corpse had been under the rubble for 6-7 days. It was in the evening when we waited at the door for the corpse to arrive. We brought it inside, and our female mortician friend started to wash it. I was standing outside when she began washing. Suddenly, a scent of musk, an indescribable fragrance, came from inside. A friend of mine was next to me. I was going to ask him where that beautiful smell was coming from when I realized it was coming from inside. As soon as I opened the door, my mortician friend was sitting and crying. I asked her why she was crying. She said, 'You see, the more water I pour over this corpse, the more musk and rose scent comes out.' The scent remained in this place. It was a spiritual fragrance, and we witnessed it. We researched that woman. It turned out that she was giving free lessons to children at a Quran course for the sake of Allah."
"I REMOVED CONSTRUCTION BRICKS FROM THE CORPSES" Noting that there were different corpses, Yüksel said, "They were preparing shrouds and plastic. The bodies were in pieces. I was gathering them into plastic, then cotton, then plastic again, and finally the shroud. Because the shroud should not be stained with blood. After that, we would send them for burial. I was removing construction bricks from some corpses. Being a mortician is not an easy job. I have been washing corpses for about 20 years," he expressed.