"Please give me your blessings, son."
"Mahmut didn't get out. Mahmut couldn't get out… Leave me, I'm alone, take him. His wife is pregnant..."
-- Rescued miner
-- Note found in the hand of a miner who died in this week's Soma mine disaster near İzmir, Turkey
"Let me take my boots off, the
stretcher shouldn't get dirty."
"Mahmut didn't get out. Mahmut couldn't get out… Leave me, I'm alone, take him. His wife is pregnant..."
-- Rescued miner
# # #
"Explosions like this in these mines happen all the time. It's not like these don't happen elsewhere in the world."
-- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, visiting the Soma diaster site
"Those who survived Soma were the ones who used their minds."
-- İzmir Deputy Governor Mustafa Harputlu, a member of Erdoğan's ruling party
"The rumors that a 15-year-old died in the mine was false. He was 19. That's good news."
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2 comments:
Jen, Great post bringing the miners' humanity to the fore and the incredible insensitivity of our political "leaders" who have collaborated with the coal companies in creating the conditions for this catastrophe.
Thanks, M & J. So much sadness and frustration, it's a bit overwhelming. Will be glad to escape to Hasankeyf this weekend. (Not that there aren't plenty of woes there as well...) Wish you were coming again too! Hope to catch up soon after I get back. x
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