Yusuf Bayyiğit, one of the many Assyrians affected by the devastating twin earthquakes of 6 February has called on Armenians and Assyrians not to leave their homeland in Malatya (Meletî) in Turkey.
The region suffered massive damage, with 80 percent of the neighbourhoods turning to rubble. The Çavuşoğlu and Salköprü neighbourhoods of Malatya’s central Yeşilyurt district were destroyed in the earthquakes, while the Surp Yerrortutyun church and a mosque in the district were heavily damaged.
Armenians, Assyrians and members of the Alevi faith had been living in the Çavuşoğlu district for hundreds of years until the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the 1980 Coup d’etat in Turkey. The oppression against non-Muslim communities that followed led them to migrate from the region.
Syriac Yusuf Bayyiğit (Blacksmith Yusuf) is one of very few who stayed in Malatya after the earthquake. “I will stay here until the end,” he said.
“During the 80’s coup, people were exposed to undeserved oppression due to another chaos. There was a military coup in the country and there were people pointing at us as responsible… Such pressures have always existed. As a result of these, migrations have continued to take place here. Such reasons have never diminished,” says Bayyiğit. He also mentioned how houses in the Çavuşoğlu district were raided, people were mistreated or killed and as a result, sought ways to migrate during the Cyprus invasion in 1974.
Bayyiğit stated that members of different faiths living in Malatya have also been deeply affected by the earthquakes of 6 February.
“We are all in one place right now. My family had to go to Aydın. There were families we lost here. In one of our family in Malatya, three people passed away. We have around 60 people in this neighbourhood. When we count as a family, eight Armenian families remained. The number of Syriacs is the same as well. So, our total population is 60. After the earthquake, three more people stayed with me, the rest migrated,” he continued.
Bayyiğit says he does not intend to leave Malatya and wants to be there until the end. “Unless I see a great risk that will endanger my life, I do not intend to leave this place.”
“I don’t want our people to leave this place. I am in favour of not only non-Muslims, but also our friends and friends living in their own country,” he concluded.