The story told by the Israeli commander who participated in search and rescue operations in Turkey with the coin he took out of his pocket touched the listeners.
Foreign search and rescue teams who came to Turkey after the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, the epicentre of which was Kahramanmaraş and affected 10 provinces, returned to their countries after completing their duties.
THEY WERE WELCOMED WITH A CEREMONY IN ISRAEL
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) search and rescue team participating in the operations in Kahramanmaraş was welcomed with a ceremony attended by Turkish Ambassador to Israel Şakir Özkan Torunlar.
While Ambassador Torunlar thanked the Israeli team for their work in Turkey, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, “The people of Israel are proud of you. We have followed your work and you have shown the true and beautiful face of the State of Israel to the whole world.”
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THE ISRAELI COMMANDER SHOWED THE TURKISH LIRA IN HIS POCKET
Commander Golan Vach, who is leading the efforts in Turkey, told an emotional story during the welcoming ceremony.
Showing the Turkish lira he took out of his pocket, the commander told the story behind the coin as follows;
“On our last evening in Turkey, we were working to rescue a 9-year-old boy. After 30 hours of hard work, we were able to see the boy at the end of the narrow tunnel.
“THE OFFICER WHO RESCUED THE BOY HAD LOST HIS DAUGHTER 2 YEARS AGO”
Friends from the Search and Rescue team cleared the concrete blocks covering the boy. One of the paramedics went to him to do the first intervention.
I knew this paramedic from before, he had lost his daughter in an accident two years ago. He gently stroked the head of the child trapped under the rubble, calmed the child by murmuring to him in a language that all children in the world would understand.”
THE UNCLE OF THE BOY WE RESCUED CAME TO US AND GAVE US SOME COINS
Commander Vach likened the extraction of the child from the rubble after the first intervention to the birth of a baby, “It was a difficult physical labour. Everyone’s eyes filled with tears as the child was rescued from the concrete cage amid cheers,” he said;
“When we came out of the tunnel, the boy’s uncle came to us and gave a coin to the paramedic who rescued him. It does not have much material value, but he explained the meaning of the coin as follows: According to local customs, this coin is actually given to the woman in labour. However, if the birth is difficult and complicated, the coin is given to the midwife instead of the woman in labour.”
“HERE IS THE LANGUAGE OF SAVING LIVES, HERE IS THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE
Explaining that the Turkish people approached them with love during their mission, Vach said, “The local people told us that they believed and trusted us and asked us to help them. Everyone understood our language, this is the language of saving lives, this is the language of love.”
