A man from Istanbul who arrived in Hatay after the earthquakes that occurred last month converted his minibus into a coffee car and started serving espresso to the Italian field hospital team providing support for earthquake survivors.
After the powerful earthquakes that affected the lives of millions of people across 11 provinces, citizens throughout the country were trying to join the rescue and relief operations and provide contributions of any sort. Mehmet Bağış from Istanbul thought that coffee would be a necessity, so he set off to the southern region with his car.
Trying to lighten the burden of the daily life of earthquake victims and teams in the region with espresso, which is a unique coffee flavor to Italy, Bağış pulled his vehicle in front of the field hospital and offered coffee to thank the Italian team who warmly welcomed the gesture.
Bağış, speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), said that the idea of distributing coffee was raised right after the earthquakes and that as soon as he equipped his van with an espresso machine he rushed to Hatay.
"We started to distribute espresso to everyone, especially to all foreigners. Since then, we have been distributing the coffee,'' he said.
"The Italian team was really happy to see us. They even gave me a medal with the logo of the field hospital. I guess they felt special," Bağiş added. "It's a small thing for us, but they are very happy. We are happy if we could do something in return for what they did."
The Italian field hospital's coordinator, Dr. Nicola Tommasoni, for his part said that they are trying to support the disaster victims with 70 people, 60 of whom are health personnel.
Explaining that his country has been serving in the region for about a month, but the first team has returned, Tommasoni said that they took over the task on March 4.
"We were very touched when we saw the coffee,'' Tommasoni said. ''This is a part of the gratitude we saw from the Turkish people, but we really needed the coffee. We kept working all night, but it was 'stronger' this time thanks to the coffee,'' he noted.
"We received a lot of patients here, but there have been many people without any (health) issues who came here only to thank us. We thank you very much for this and we will always remember you, you are in our hearts," Tommasoni concluded.