Turkish diaspora calls on immigration minister to fast-track visas, family reunification for earthquake survivors

Yusuf Celik, a New Brunswick resident on a two-week compassionate leave in his native Turkey, said that non-governmental relief workers he has spoken with on the ground believe the death toll from recent back-to-back earthquakes there 'will be at least 100,000 people.'

Yusuf Celik spoke with The Hill Times from the hard-hit Turkish city of Adiyaman, seen here, where he said governor Mahmut Çuhadar did not initially request search-and-rescue operations. When they were eventually conducted, rescuers avoided most collapsed buildings.Photograph courtesy of Yusuf Celik

News

BY CHRISTOPHER GULY

February 26, 2023

Three weeks after devastating earthquakes struck the place of his birth, Yusuf Celik is in Turkey assisting with humanitarian relief and helping his family recover from a natural catastrophe that has killed more than 46,000 people there and in nearby Syria.

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