4 people trying to escape persecution in Turkey missing after boat capsizes in Evros River

The news outlet identified the missing as 36-year-old Hatice Akçabay and her three sons, seven-year-old Ahmet Esat, five-year-old Mesut and one-year-old Aras.
The news outlet identified the missing as 36-year-old Hatice Akçabay and her three sons, seven-year-old Ahmet Esat, five-year-old Mesut and one-year-old Aras.


Date posted: July 20, 2018

A woman and her three children went missing after a boat carrying several Turkish asylum seekers who fled Turkey due to an ongoing government crackdown on followers of the Gülen movement capsized in the Evros River along the Turkey-Greece border on Wednesday night, Euronews Turkish reported.

The news outlet identified the missing as 36-year-old Hatice Akçabay and her three sons, seven-year-old Ahmet Esat, five-year-old Mesut and one-year-old Aras.

The children’s father, Murat Akçabay, and four other people on the boat were rescued. Greek officials told Euronews they are being kept at a police station on the Turkish border.

Rescue teams from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) were reportedly working to save the woman and her three children on the Turkish part of the river.

News of the incident was first tweeted by Turkish journalist Cevheri Güven, who called on international organizations to take action to rescue the missing people.

“A boat carrying Turkish purge victims capsized on the Evros River in Greece, a mother and 3 children lost, one child was wearing a life vest, they all may be alive, rescue units must urgently be deployed to the area @UNHCRGreece @Refugees_Gr,” Güven tweeted early Thursday.

Writer Cemil Tokpınar claimed the same day that Greek border police had located the missing people on an islet in the river.

Murat Akçabay, who was in custody at the Isakio station in Dimetoka, told Turkish media outlet Bold TV what they experienced in the Evros River early Thursday morning. “We, nine refugees, got in a rubber dinghy. At last two human traffickers also got in. In total we were 11 people on the boat. I think we crashed into something like a rock in the middle of the river. The boat was pierced and we started to turn it around. Suddenly the boat overturned and we all fell into the water. The other family members held on to tree branches on the right bank of the river.”

“My wife and I left in the middle of the river while trying to hold our children. My wife was holding our little baby, and I tried to hold our two sons. Ahmet Esat , our 7-year-old son, was wearing life vest so he could swim. But my other son went under the water. At the time my wife went adrift and then held on to a branch. I shouted to her, ‘Don’t let go of the branch, I will rescue you.’ While I was trying to fight the waves, I saw she wasn’t in the same place. I repeatedly shouted, but I never heard her voice again.”

Turkish police also reportedly detained Yunus Akçabay, the uncle of the missing children, as he tried to locate his lost nephews and their mother. No accusations against him were made by police, who said he had helped them search for and rescue his nephews and sister-in-law.

Thousands of people have fled Turkey due to a massive witch-hunt launched by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government against sympathizers of the Gülen movement in the wake of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The government accuses the movement of masterminding the coup while the latter denies involvement.

More than 150,000 people have been detained and some 80,000 including academics, judges, doctors, teachers, lawyers, students, policemen and many from different backgrounds have been put in pre-trial detention since the failed putsch.

Many tried to flee Turkey via illegal means as the government cancelled the passports of thousands of people.

On Feb. 13, at least three people died and five others went missing after another boat carrying a group of eight capsized in the Evros River while seeking to escape the post-coup crackdown in Turkey.

 

Source: Stockholm Center for Freedom , July 19, 2018


Related News

Erdogan advisor likens Turkey purge to Aborigine, Native American, Armenian cases

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief advisor, Mehmet Uçum, has said the Turkish state can apologize to the victims of a post-coup era purge and witch-hunt targeting the faith-based Gülen movement years after the events take place, as Australia did for the Aborigines, the US did for the Native Americans and Turkey did for the Armenians.

A Turkish couple spent their wedding day feeding 4,000 Syrian refugees

Hatice Avci, a spokesperson for aid organisation Kimse Yok Mu, told i100.co.uk that last Thursday the newlyweds donated the savings their families had put together for a party to share their wedding celebrations with the refugees living in and around the town of Kilis.

Corruption, Stigmatization, and Innocence

Unfortunately, the Hizmet Movement as one of the leading civilian movements contributing to intercultural dialogue and peace in the world has been labeled as one of the players to destabilize Turkey by the pro-government press too.

Think Twice on Turkey: Erdogan’s Purges Are a Warning to Washington

“Whatever the merits of the government’s claims about the movement’s role in the coup, which Gülen himself denies, the speed and scale of the dismissals make it clear that many of those affected by the purge are caught up in it not because there is clear evidence of their involvement in the coup but merely because of their perceived association with the Gülen movement.”

Fethullah Gülen condemns the terrorist attack in Gaziantep, Turkey

I condemn, in the strongest terms, the barbaric terrorist attack on attendees of a wedding ceremony in Gaziantep, Turkey that took the lives of more than fifty citizens, including children, and wounded many others. This is not just an attack on the attendees of a wedding, but also an attack on the solidarity of people of Anatolia, including Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Boshniaks, Albanians, Georgians and Circassians and others who lived as neighbors for centuries.

Ex-President Demirel known for his support of Turkish schools abroad

Turkey’s ninth president, Süleyman Demirel, who died on Wednesday at the age of 90, was known for his open support of the Turkish schools abroad inspired by the views of the Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Malian Medical Students: Ramadan feels different this year

Fethullah Gulen’s Statement on Devastating Bush Fires in Australia

İstanbul Transportation Authority cancels bus line to Fatih University

Sophia Pandya on Hizmet Movement

Turkey torture claims in wake of failed coup

Debunking The Gülen-Erdoğan Relationship

Abrahamic Faith Leaders on Significance of Coexistence

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News