Türkiye's gendarmerie personnel in Adıyaman, one of 10 Turkish provinces devastated by the Feb. 6 earthquakes, held chess competitions with children on Saturday in the tent city established at Eğriçay Park.
Foça Gendarmerie Commando Training Commander Maj. Gen. Halil Şen attended the chess event organized in cooperation with the Provincial Gendarmerie Command, Turkish Chess Federation, and Adıyaman Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports.
Hatice Öztürk, a member of the Gendarmerie, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they organized various activities to help earthquake survivors find their morale.
Stating that the children had fun playing chess, Öztürk said, "We are trying to make the children in the tent city get away from earthquake psychology for a little bit. Children are very happy when they see us. As Gendarmerie personnel, we want to put a smile on the faces of the children in the disaster."
Turkish Chess Federation Regional head Cengiz Yalçın emphasized that they want earthquake victims to forget their pain.
Expressing that they want to see children laughing in the city, Yalçın said, "We aim to share the experiences of children and help them get away from earthquake psychology. This is our sole purpose."
"We organize events with the support of Maj. Gen. Şen, and the Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports. Gendarmerie teams both provide security here and make great efforts to heal the wounds of the earthquake. We are proud of this," he said.
"They play chess with our children and let them have fun. We are also happy. Thank you to everyone who worked hard," he added.
Adıyaman Youth and Sports Directorate head Fikret Keleş said there was a massive disaster in the city and many studies were carried out to help the victims overcome the trauma of the earthquake.
Keleş said, "Our state and institutions are making great efforts to heal the wounds of the earthquake. We organized a chess event for children. We aim to help our children get over the trauma of the earthquake and find their morale. We want to thank everyone who supported the event." The event will continue for a week.
Nearly 50,000 people were killed in Türkiye's 10 southern provinces in the Kahramanmaraş-centered twin earthquakes.
