A California man loses 14 family members in the Turkey earthquake

Almost two weeks ago, Bakersfield resident Sherry Jones received a text message from her ex-husband, Mervan Argun, informing her of a major earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Jones, 49, immediately called him and asked if anyone was hurt. The entire Ergun family lived in Turkey, specifically in Hatay province, which is one of the regions hardest hit by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6 and its aftershocks.

Two hours later, Ergun, 41, responded, telling her that his mother, two sisters and a brother had been killed along with their children and spouses.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Jones said. “I thought he was playing a terrible joke, and then it quickly became clear that he wasn’t.”

In total, Ergun lost 14 family members, including two aunts and an uncle. Mervan’s 38-year-old brother, Magdi Arjun, and Magdi’s wife and their two children, as well as his 40-year-old sister, Mes Yalman, her husband and their three children were killed when their apartment buildings collapsed during the earthquake.

Jones acts as a spokesperson for Ergun, a resident of Bakersfield who is currently in Turkey and is organizing a burial for his relatives.

“It would be one thing if it was just one family member and how hard it would be, but losing 11 close family members at once is almost unbearable,” Jones said. “For me, I still feel like a part of their family.” And they still treat me like that. I can’t believe they’re gone.”

From left: Mervan Ergün’s sisters Munir Yavuz and Mes Yalman, Fatma’s mother and sisters Merv Ergün, Mayad Tatar and Mon Balar.

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Mervan’s 70-year-old mother, Fatemeh Arjun, and her 30-year-old sister, Merv Arjun, the youngest of 11 siblings in the family, were the caretakers of Mervan’s father, Abdullah Ergun, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, and Mervan’s brother. , Mesut Ergun, who has a developmental delay and is blind.

The four of them were living together in Antakya, and when the earthquake struck, Mervan’s mother and sister died while his father and brother survived.

“Mervan’s mother probably did the best to manage him,” Jones said of her ex-father-in-law. “Now she’s gone and the siblings are doing their best to take care of him.”

An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale struck Turkey and Syria on Monday, two weeks after the earthquake that killed tens of thousands and destroyed thousands of buildings in the province.

At least eight people were killed and 294 others were injured in the latest quake, which was followed by a second quake of magnitude 5.8 and dozens of other aftershocks.

The epicenter of the recent earthquakes was in the town of Defne in Turkey’s Hatay province. Jones said Ergon and his surviving relatives were “scared” about the earthquakes this week, but managed to make it through safely.

After learning of the death of his family members, Ergun frantically searched for a way to get to Turkey, according to Jones. He was able to fly from Los Angeles to Istanbul, but there were no flights from there to southern Turkey. Ergün took the bus part of the way and ended up walking until he was about 30 miles from Antakya, when someone picked him up on the road and drove him the rest of the way.

Help Ergun find the bodies of his sister, Mays, her husband and their three children under the rubble of their collapsed apartment building. On Thursday, the bodies of his brother Makdi and Magdy’s wife and two children were found.

They were buried in the neighboring village of Kirancik.

“He said the city reeked of death, wherever they went,” Jones said. “There are families waiting for rescue crews to arrive and pull out their missing family members so they can give them comfort. They have no hope that anyone will be alive, given the condition of the buildings and the time that has passed.”

Jones said she first met Ergun in 2007 online, and after talking online for six months, she traveled to Turkey and they got engaged. They came to the United States at the end of 2008 and married at the beginning of 2009. They lived together in Bakersfield until they separated in August 2021.

Jones and Ergon share two sons – 13-year-old Grant Abdullah and 9-year-old Lance. In 2018, the former spouses returned to Turkey with their children for a vacation.

“They didn’t treat me any differently,” Jones said of her ex-husband’s family. “I am a mother to his children, and they will always see me as his wife. They knew we weren’t together, but they still treated me like that and welcomed me with open arms.”

Jones said Grant Abdullah has been dealing with the deaths very hard after recently meeting all of his cousins ​​and extended family.

“He’s struggling with himself a bit because his memories are still so fresh and he’s attached to his cousins, his grandmother, aunts and uncles who are now gone,” Jones said.

Jones also created a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the family.

Jones said that Fatima Ardon was a “very strong lady” for the family.

“His mom was very strong and it was hard to win her over, but from what I understand, she did,” she said. “It says a lot knowing how special she was and the expectations she had of people. It’s hard to believe she’s gone.”

Jones said the family is struggling to process what happened and how they can move forward.

“They are afraid that they are in their homes now, so what if another earthquake strikes?” She said. “It’s a huge loss. They are a very close family. That’s one of the things that drew me to Mervan — he was very close to his family.”

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