Emine Cebeci's 4-Year Search and Legal Struggle: The Way to Find Her Son's Grave

Cebeci, who was treated in hospitals for a year and had 14 surgeries, did not give up searching for his son despite all the difficulties he experienced. Cebeci, who followed his son's footsteps all over Türkiye for four years, visited police stations, hospitals and morgues, and as a result of the legal struggle he initiated, opened 18 graves and reached his son's body. Explaining what she experienced that night, Emine Cebeci said, "As they say, 'before Christ, after Christ'. It was the same for us. We had one life before 1999, but we turned to a different life after 1999." he said. Explaining that he was caught in the earthquake while watching television, Cebeci was left under the rubble when the house he lived in collapsed. Explaining that he could not hear a voice before his son in the wreckage, Cebeci stated that his son called out to him an hour or two later and continued as follows: "- I think only our building collapsed. However, there was an earthquake, everything was destroyed. Then they took my son out. They also took out our dog with him. Our dog was alive. They took him out with my son. - My son was saying, 'I won't go, take out my mother. My mother lives downstairs.' Then my best friend persuaded my son by force and He took me to Gölcük Military Hospital. I was always thankful. I thought, 'My son is gone, he survived.' - They took me out three hours after my son. When I got out, everyone was saying this, 'Serkan was so good, we didn't even think you would reach the hospital.' Explaining that he had 14 surgeries after the earthquake, Cebeci stated that he later started looking for his son and said: "- When I came to Gölcük, I saw that there were photographs of missing people on the walls. There were a lot of missing people. I went to the military. The military said to me, 'We buried 18 orphans, but we have the pictures.' - I looked at the pictures, but my son was not there. Still, 'Look, there are a lot of missing people. One of these missing people can come out of that cemetery. I want those 18 graves to be opened.' "I said, 'No matter what loss we find, this is peace for a mother. - My court process lasted 4 years. Finally, I wanted 18 graves to be opened. I had them opened, not because my son would be found, but my son was found in one of those graves. - In these four years, I traveled around Türkiye with the pictures of the missing people on my back.'