It has been nine years but the tragedy is still fresh in the minds of the people of Reyhanlı, a small town situated near Turkey’s border with Syria. On May 11, 2013, 53 people were killed when two car bombs exploded in downtown Reyhanlı, part of Hatay province.

A commemoration ceremony was held on Wednesday in the town for victims of the attacks, one of the deadliest acts of terrorism in the history of the Republic of Turkey. A crowd including families of victims marched throughout the town, a walk that ended at the May 11 Martyrs Memorial, erected on the site of the bombings that ripped through the town's busiest street.

The ceremony started with a minute of silence, followed by a recitation of the national anthem and the names of victims and a recitation of verses from the Quran.

Ahmet Tuna, the father of Oğulcan Tuna, a high school student who was among the casualties, made a speech on behalf of the families. Tuna, whose son's name now adorns the high school he attended, said their pain was still "too big" and they would "never forget what happened here."

The bombings were the first terrorist attack in the history of the town, which thrived on trade with neighboring Syria before the war erupted there. An investigation revealed that they were the work of a group of Turkish nationals with ties to al-Mukhaberat, a shadowy intelligence organization of Syria’s Assad regime. Mihraç Ural, a fugitive terrorist with ties to the Assad regime, was the alleged mastermind of the attacks. In 2018, a Turkish court sentenced nine suspects to multiple aggravated life sentences for their role in the bombings, while Yusuf Nazik, a key suspect in the bombings, was captured in a special operation in Syria’s Latakia and brought to Turkey later in 2018. Nazik was issued 53 instances of aggravated life imprisonment in 2019.

"This was not a simple act of killing. They tried to divide our country, our nation, to silence the adhan (Islamic call to prayer) and bring down our flag here. But they failed and will never succeed. We will always support our state," Ahmet Tuna said in his speech.

The town, which is home to a sizeable population of Syrian refugees who fled the brutal conflict, had largely recovered from the attacks that damaged 912 houses, 891 businesses and 148 vehicles, while the names of victims were given to parks, schools and streets across Reyhanlı.