Turkish chef in Scarborough yet to hear if brother is OK from earthquake

Sedat Akgul is from Gaziantep, one of the cities most affected

Author: Karen LiuPublished 13th Feb 2023

A man from Turkey, who works in Scarborough, says he is still waiting to hear if his brother is OK.

Sedat Akgul is from Gaziantep, one of the cities most affected by the earthquake, as around 90 percent of the buildings there are destroyed.

Through translation, he said: "If something has come from nature and not created and as you can see we can't do nothing at the moment. Our hands are tied up and there's nothing really for us to do. I'm pretty sure if there's any opportunity, I would have done it straight away.

"My brother, my brother's wife and their four children they're still down there. Some people are there working to get people out and they want to get out. They're bringing a lot of people out but my brother's home is very down. It's a first floor flat but we're waiting. What can we do?

"I will go back home soon but I will say thank you very much to all the world for helping us."

Umut runs Askim's which is a Turkish restaurant in Scarborough town centre, where Sedat is a chef. He said: "It's a flat of 10 and Sedat's brother is right at the bottom, Flat 1, so imagine how many floors have crushed down on them. They're still in the rubble and we're still waiting for good news. One of them is a six month-old baby which he hasn't even seen yet so you can understand how emotional he is at the moment.

"In Turkey, just because of this situation everything has gone up in price as well. We're here as a community to help and we've been collecting a lot of money to send to Turkey straight away. We'd really appreciate if they can donate. If they can't donate any clothes then we'd really appreciate £1, £2, £3 or anything people can afford and it won't hurt them."

Sedat and Umut have been speaking to Greatest Hits Radio's Karen Liu:

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