World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkey on Thursday honored the people lost in the Marmara earthquake that hit northwestern Anatolia on Aug. 17, 1999, costing some 17,000 lives.

Public officials, NGOs, and crowds of people came together early in the morning in commemoration of the tragedy’s 19th anniversary in Istanbul, Sakarya, Yalova and Golcuk, the epicenter of the 7.4 quake.

Wreaths and flowers were placed on the Golcuk memorial built on the rubble of destroyed buildings. People stood in silence in respect for the fallen with processions continuing well into the night.

Turkish officials offered their prayers to the people lost.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remembered the victims of the deadly earthquake in a Twitter message, wishing God’s mercy upon them.

“We will continue to take the necessary measures to assure the safety of life and property of our people against this kind of disasters,” Erdogan tweeted. 

“The shortest night, the longest grief. We commemorate the lives we lost in the Aug. 17, 1999 Marmara earthquake. May Allah forever withhold such pain from our cherished nation,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Causoglu said in a tweet early on Friday.