Muhammad Özer who lost his 5-years-old daughter Semanur Özer and his 12-years-old brother Kerem Özer in a suicide bomb attack on a wedding in August in Gaziantep's Şahinbey district Beybahçe Neighborhood said that his sorrows are as fresh as the first day.

A suicide bombing attack carried out on the wedding ceremony of Nurettin-Besna Akdoğan last year on August 20, which caused 57 people to lose their lives and 92 were wounded.

Özer stated that he could not forget the scene of the night despite the fact that a year had passed since the incident. Özer also stated that on the night of the event, he was looking for his daughter in hospitals till morning.

Özer said, “My daughter was 5 years old, my brother was 13 years old. They went to the wedding, and while they were playing, they did not know anything about anything and both of them lost their lives. My daughter died in my arms and my brother had already died at the scene.”

Özer, who said that he was going to take his daughter at the time of the attack, said: “I was on my way to the scene. I was coming from somewhere, it was 22.30 o'clock. I took my children and we would go home. Suddenly I heard a bursting sound. I knew it was the sound of a bomb but to console myself, I said ‘I hope it is not a bomb’. Unfortunately, a saddening event has happened. When I went to the scene, people were shattered in blood, some of whom lost their arms, some lost their legs. So many of them had become unrecognized. All of them had died in a terrible manner. And then the wounded were taken to hospitals. Everything turned out when daylight was on, and 57 people lost their lives.”

“Everybody was preoccupied with their own troubles”

Özer, who expressed that he could not reach his wife and children until the morning despite all his initiatives, said, “I saw my brother die at the scene and I could not reach my wife and my children that night until morning. Everybody was preoccupied with their own troubles. Near the morning, my wife phoned me and told me that my daughter is in operation. The operation was a serious operation. She had a piece of shrapnel in her abdomen and it was a poisonous piece. My daughter lost her life in this way. I finally saw my daughter at the morgue.”

“My daughter smiled openly as if saying ‘Daddy, I have arrived where I was going’”

Özer said that he is in pain and sorrow with the demise of his daughter but that belief in fate is calming him, “We have believed in Him. We came from Him, and we will return to Him. Thank Allah. The face of my dead daughter made me happy. She was openly smiling as if she was saying, ‘Daddy, I have arrived where I was going’. That view made me a bit happy. Of course, it is a saddening event but we say, ‘we heard and obeyed’. We will continue to our gratitude in this way.”

“Throwing bombs on civilians is neither human nor conscience”

Pointing out that all the enormities aimed at the civilian and innocent people constantly for the sake of their own interests, Özer said, “Throughout history, people who are allied with the enormities and the enormities have always been aiming at innocent people without making discrimination among children, young, old. Throwing them into despair and chaos. Targeting innocent people, bombing civilians like in Syria and other Islamic geographies today is no humanity nor a conscience. And we have to stay away from provocative environments.”

“It is not possible to forget”

Özer says that his pain is still as fresh as the first day, even though a year has passed since the event, “Be sure, the event is as if it happened today. The pain is as fresh as we have on the first day. My children, my wife and I cannot forget her. I have never experienced such a pain but it is very difficult to tell anyone. I cannot find a word to tell my daughter. Sometimes the pain is unbearable at midnight so go upon her grave and it makes me feel better a bit but really it is impossible to forget. Our pain is still as fresh as the first day, even though a year has passed since the event.”

“My daughter lastly said ‘I will go to Prophet Muhammad’”

Özer, telling the last moments with his daughter on the night when she went to the marriage ceremony, said, “My daughter was a totally different girl. I do not say it because she is my daughter or to praise her. I have two daughters. My deceased daughter was really different. I realized at the age of 3. We performed evening prayer together that night. After praying, ‘daddy, I will go to the Prophet Muhammad. He calls me. Let’s perform our prayer quickly then I will go,’ she said to me. This was my last conversation with her. And I was so happy to have brought up such a child.” (İbrahim Koçyiğit - ILKHA)