When pyromancer Dimitris Trontzas, along with 22 other members of the Special Disaster Response Squadpacked their gear for the flight to Turkey on August 17, 1999., things between the two countries were not good. A few months ago, tensions came to a head over the kidnapping of Öcalan, and there were only three years between Imiya and me.

However, Greece was one of the first countries to send help immediately, with highly trained EMAK people, two doctors specialized in the field, and two rescue dogs in front. “We were ordered to go to Nicomedia, which was severely hit by 7.6 Richter, with thousands of dead and wounded, and we did not think about it, our goal was to save human life”, tells K about helping Greece in one of the biggest natural disasters the neighboring country has experiencedwhich paved the way for so-called “earthquake diplomacy”.

Trondzas was then the head of the Greek mission and still vividly remembers the indescribable images he saw in the ruins. Today he is retired and lives in Lechin, Ilya, where he comes from. “As soon as our plane landed in Istanbul, we felt an atmosphere of distrust, doubt, prejudice. Low-ranking government officials asked us who we were, how we came, why we came, while the purpose of our stay in Turkey was clear. We experienced it as a small cap but soon put it aside because our morale was high. We knew where we were going, we were trained, we were professionals, and we had solidarity and a desire to offer in our “baggage”. Of course, this initial attitude that we faced made us a little cautious, and we told all the team members to be careful and not provoke.”

Despite the huge need, the Greek rescuers did not immediately jump into action: “Although we were promptly ready to contribute, for the first two days we were forced to set up tents on the campus of the university in Istanbul, and we waited for notification of the incident. Seeing that we are inactive and not helping, while we could save people, we decided on our own initiative and with the help of a group of Turkish rescuers from AKUT to go to areas close to the epicenter of the earthquake. I must say that the situation was chaotic, the state apparatus collapsed, nothing worked and, most importantly, there was no coordination. We had a consular officer and two translators with us, and we set off.

Heading towards Nicomedia, on the way we were stopped by the townspeople, who mistook us for rescuers. “Run, we hear a child in the rubble,” they told us. Indeed, our dog detected the presence of a man under the rubble. It was a three-story building that collapsed, became one with the ground. It was noon, and we threw our hooves into the mud. We all worked, only left a colleague to look after our things. The child’s parents, with bloodshot eyes and terrible anxiety, watched for hours as we dug. The mother was pregnant with her second child, and the father was a non-commissioned officer in the Turkish Navy.

Over time, as we removed the debris, we could hear the baby more clearly. We had to talk to him to raise his morale and find out from his answers where he is. But we didn’t speak Turkish. Just a few scattered words. So we told him: “Hold on, you bastard!” and we told him about his favorite football team,” says Dimitris Trontzas, who is excited even today – 24 years later. “What bothered us during the rescue was that his voice was heard from different places. where he was under the rubble, a small cavity accidentally formed, possibly due to a closet or bookcase, and the eight-year-old boy was able to move a little.Our anxiety reached a peak, because while we were digging in one direction, knowing that we were fighting against time , we understood from the source of the sound that the little boy had moved,” says the retired firefighter, who then had a child of the same age. .

“Early in the morning we managed to free Juventus alive. He didn’t even have a scratch, he was just dehydrated from being depressed for three days. It was a small miracle that he survived, although people managed to stay alive for 5-6 days. Even now I cannot find words to describe the feelings that everyone in the group experienced at the moment when they met the gaze of a child full of gratitude. This is the phase when you forget all tiredness and exhaustion. When you save a person, it is like a rebirth of him. As if you are defeating Enceladus, because you cannot defeat nature itself, as if you feel that your departure from this earth was worth it, you did something, achieved something, left something positive behind you. I still keep the look of little Guvan. He gave me courage and courage for all the difficulties that I faced later in my career as a firefighter,” Dimitris Trontzas told K.

“We will never forget the gratitude of his parents. Pain is a terrible feeling. It unites everyone, nationalities do not exist, as well as gender, age, skin color. There is only human destiny that makes us all vulnerable. In this difficult time, you become one with each other, you become one even with someone who before you may have held a gun in his hands to kill from the trench. And we look cool and hardworking at work, but we’re human too, we have kids, we have wives, we have feelings. We may be hurt, we may even cry. But duty is above all, and we will not hesitate to put our lives at risk to save others. As for our families, when we go on a mission or when something bad happens, we don’t always tell the whole truth. At least that’s what I did.

“Pain is a terrible feeling. It unites everyone, nationalities do not exist, as well as gender, age, skin color. Only human destiny makes us vulnerable.”

After we finished rescuing the boy, we packed up our gear and set off for Nicomedia. There we set up camp with tents at the Turkish naval base. Before we had time to catch our breath, Turkish soldiers came and told us to leave. They were armed, put us in a carriage and sent us to another place. Maybe they were afraid that this was a military zone. I don’t know, we were never told the reason. The bus took us to the flattened Yalova. There really could be “smell” of death. The days have already passed, and the trapped people have already died. Epidemics broke out, and again we were inactive. I took the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Georges Papandreou, as a leader, described the situation to him and told him: “Get us out of here, we have nothing to offer this city.” He replied that he would arrange it, adding that the Greeks would go to Turkey first and be the last to leave.

We returned to Istanbul, but on the ferry we realized something that we did not take for granted. The news about the rescue of Juventus first spread through the local media, and then throughout Turkey. Ordinary people began to recognize us, because we wore the coat of arms on our uniforms. They stood up on the ship to give us their seats, wanted to treat us, all the time they called us “Yunan Kardash”, hugged and kissed. There was great hospitality on the part of the Turkish citizens. Besides, we never had to part with them. In Polis, the Patriarch changed his schedule to receive us. We went to Hagia Sophia, we were delighted. I firmly believe that we Greeks have compassion and solidarity in our blood, we will never turn our backs on someone in need. Leaving the city, a string of Turkish cars delivered us to the airport, honking their horns, as is customary at weddings or elections. That was incredible.”

Earthquake in Athens

The return of the EMAK team to Greece, which made everyone proud of the spirit and courage of its members, was warm. “But we didn’t have time to rejoice or brag. On September 7, 1999, a small ceremony was organized at the Fire Department Headquarters in the presence of then Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, who wanted to honor us. On the way back to our base, there was a strong Parnite earthquake, ”says the then pyromaniac. “We grabbed our equipment and ran, this time to pull our compatriots out, pinned down by their houses. It was incredible, but with a difference of several weeks, we saw the same scene again. First, we managed to get a 17-18-year-old boy alive from a three-story house in Metamorfosi. Then I spent a whole week at Ricomex. While I was working there, only one woman survived.”

“Several times I was haunted by memories, in a dream or in reality. Maybe because the purpose of our work is sacred, as a fireman you work for the benefit of others, you try, you are not a coward. Therefore, you sleep and live in peace with your conscience and be proud of your profession. And now I will go to Turkey or wherever they ask me. In Mati, I had already retired, watched the footage and wanted to be there, no matter how terrible the conditions were. I am glad that the Greeks from EMAK succeeded in changing the climate between the two countries and that this is how “earthquake diplomacy” began. Now I am proud of my son. He is also a firefighter, special services, a watercraft engineer. I retired from the Corps, but if I hear a siren or see a car, I go crazy. So many years in the service are not forgotten … “.

Turkish lifeguard in Athens

When Nasuh Mahruki, the founder of AKUT, the Turkish search and rescue unit, writer and mountaineer, prepared his equipment for his arrival in Athens on September 7, 1999, he undoubtedly put aside his family history: his great-great-grandfather Kara – Ali Pasha , commander of the Turkish fleet, died when the Turkish flagship was burned by the prankster Canaris. Nasuh and his compatriots came here and worked together with the Greek rescuers: “We will never forget how people applauded us from the balconies when they saw us go to the ruins and how much love we received. It was something unique. We will also not forget that the then President of the Republic, Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, invited us to honor us. It’s a wonderful feeling to feel that you are also doing something for peace and brotherhood,” he tells K.