'He rose to the rank of martyrdom': Turkey mourns soldiers' death
Coffins delivered to relatives while Turkey holds state service in southern Hatay city for 33 soldiers killed by Syrian regime attack in Idlib.
Turkey’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, accompanied by Turkish army officials, attends a ceremony on February 28, 2020, for soldiers killed in a Syrian regime attack.
Turkey held a state service in the southern city of Hatay for 33 Turkish soldiers who were killed in regime strikes on Syria's Idlib.
The coffins of the soldiers were sent to their hometowns for the last rites. Turkish officials, including the Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, joined the service.
Military officials visited the grieving families to pay their respects.
Turkish flags hung from homes of soldiers who died battling Syrian regime forces in Idlib.
"He was engaged and was going to have a wedding on April 20. He prepared the house and everything," an uncle of a deceased Turkish soldier, Emre Baysal, said.
"But he could not marry. He rose to the rank of martyrdom."
Families of Turkish soldiers fallen in the Syrian regime attack in Idlib console one another in Hatay, Turkey, on February 28, 2020.
Turkey’s national defence minister, Hulusi Akar, accompanied by Turkish army officials, prays for the soldiers killed in the Syrian regime attack in Idlib.
Turkish flags hung from homes of soldiers who died battling Syrian regime forces in Idlib.
Turkey in Idlib
Turkish soldiers are in Idlib to protect local civilians under a 2018 deal with Russia.
Although the deal prohibits acts of aggression in Idlib, hundreds of civilians have been killed in the de-escalation zone.
Following intense attacks by the Assad regime and its allies, over a million Syrians have flocked towards the Turkish border.
Since the eruption of the bloody civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey has taken in some 3.7 million fleeing Syrians, making Turkey the world's top refugee-hosting country.
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