On Monday (August 12), an 18-year-old perpetrator carrying a knife and displaying a Nazi symbol attacked customers sitting at a cafe in Eskişehir, a large city in central Anatolia situated between İstanbul and Ankara. Five were wounded in the attack, two critically, and the attacker was arrested at the scene. Survivors of Monday’s attack spoke to Medyascope correspondent Gülseven Özkan
The mood in Eskişehir continues to be tense just days removed from the attack. A manifesto allegedly belonging to the perpetrator, named Arda Küçükyetim, leaked online shortly after the incident, expressing admiration for other far-right and neo-Nazi criminals who have perpetrated similar crimes.
Süleyman Aydın, a nearby bystander, saw the attacker put on a mask and grab a knife prior to entering the outdoor cafe seating area where the attack was carried out.
During the attack, Aydın mistook the chaos for a fight between patrons of the cafe, but soon realized what was happening after seeing stab wounds and people running past him away from the cafe.
Efe Selahattin Şen, a 30-year-old resident of İstanbul’s Bağcılar district who had come to Eskişehir for a visit, narrowly escaped the attack when he stumbled while fleeing the attacker. Şen had exited a next door mosque after performing prayers and came face-to-face with the Küçükyetim. After falling to the ground, Şen yelled for help and the attacker stopped pursuing him.
The man fleeing behind Şen reportedly suffered a severed carotid artery in the attack.
Şen then rushed to help an injured person nearby while still reeling from the shock of the attack. While helping the other victim, Şen witnessed another person being stabbed in the back by Küçükyetim at the nearby tram stop.
“The injured were begging ‘call an ambulance’, some were asking for the location of the hospital,” Şen said. “Meanwhile, I saw the police catch the attacker and pin him on the ground, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was complete chaos and I found myself at the police station without understanding how it happened. Some of the injured were also brought there.”
Describing the trauma following the attack, Şen said “When I’m on my way to work, I think people are trying to attack me.”
Another attack victim, 57-year-old Cumali Özemek, narrowly avoided death after being stabbed in the neck. Özemek is currently receiving treatment at the Eskişehir Yunus Emre State Hospital.
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Özemek has difficulty speaking following the attack and currently has only 44% use of his left arm and leg. Özemek was sitting in the garden of the mosque next to the face at the time of the attack and describes the scene as the attacker lurched towards him:
“While I was drinking my tea, I saw a thug coming towards me, waving a knife in his hand.”
Özemek has limited memory of the ensuing moments and described the feeling of blood flowing from his neck after the blow.
The 57-year-old describes Küçükyetim brandishing what looked like a ‘döner knife’ and expressed his hope that the perpetrator is brought to justice.
Özebek’s wife Fatma also expressed her relief that her husband survived the incident, saying she heard news of the attack while at home when she received a phone call from her husband’s friends saying he was injured and needed to undergo surgery.
Regular customers of the cafe feel traumatized just three days after the incident. The cafe is a tea garden mostly patronized by retirees, middle-aged citizens, and mosque-goers. Local shopkeepers report that after the attack, most regulars have now moved to other cafes.
Many of those who witnessed or survived the attack are deeply traumatised and were reluctant to speak to Medyascope at the time of the reporting.
Employees of the cafe and nextdoor mosque have either not gone to work or have been on leave for the past several days. A nearby playground also sits empty. A local mother described her paranoia following the attack: “I’m constantly looking around, feeling afraid and suspicious of the surroundings.”
Original article by Gülseven Özkan
Translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
