Scope and Purpose
“Portraits of Peace: A Look at the Lives We Lost on October 10, 2015” is a book of commemoration and witnessing that feature the portraits of 85 out of 103[1] people who lost their lives in the explosion that occurred during the Labor, Democracy and Peace Meeting held at Ankara on October 10, 2015. On October 13, 2015, Punto 24, the Platform for Independent Journalism, made a call to collect the stories of people who lost their lives in the Peace, Democracy and Labor Meeting:
“We would like to know each individual we have lost.
Because each one of them has a unique story that tells about endeavors, hopes, sorrows and celebrations. And we would like to open up a space for them in our collective memory.
Because we owe to the people who have been separated from this life while calling for peace.
Because embracing their memory is also our way of embracing life and striving for the victory of peace, instead of the victory of murderers.
Because, we cannot prevent new massacres by forgetting, but we can prevent them by remembering. We can only heal when we remember collectively.”
Volunteer writers who came together under the umbrella of P24 decided to hold interviews with the families and people who were close to those who lost their lives in the Ankara massacre. Following the interviews, portraits prepared with the help of interviews held with the families and people who were close to those who died began to be published on 101015ankara.org. In October 2017, two years after the attack, a working group consisting of Evin Barış Altıntaş, Metin Yener, Murat Şevki Çoban, Özlem Altunok, Seçil Epik, Sibel Oral, Veysel Ok and Yasemin Çongar published a book called Barış Portreleri: 10 Ekim 2015’te Kaybettiğimiz Yaşamlara Bir Bakış [Portraits of Peace: A Look at the Lives We Lost on October 10, 2015.]
The book features 85 portraits written by 62 volunteers. All these portraits were based on in-depth interviews conducted with families and relatives. For this reason, the book is not only a commemoration work but also a witnessing work. Some portraits have not been included in the book as some families preferred to experience their suffering in silence. Some portraits are also missing because the team was unable to reach their families or friends. At the end of the book, 14 of these people whose portraits are missing are remembered with their names.[2]
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[1] Two consecutive explosions were heard at 10:04 while people were gathering in front of the Ankara Train Station. Two simultaneous suicide bombings carried out by ISIS members killed a total of 103 people (excluding the suicide bombers) including 3 people who lost their lives at the hospital injured a total of 391 people, including 48 gravely injured.
[2] A total of 99 people who have lost their lives, including 85 people out of 103 are remembered with their portraits, and 14 others with their names. The reason behind this was during the preparation stage of the book, 3 people, who would lose their lives later, had still been under treatment and 1 out of 100 people who had lost their lives totally refused to include their loss’s name in the book.