The best friends, 14 years old, were born in the same hospital and died together in the Turkey earthquake

Selin Karakaya and Serin Ipekcioglu were born on the same day – January 29, 2009 – in the same hospital, just a few rooms away from each other.

The couple, who were just 14 years old, died together on February 6, 2023 under the rubble of the Isaias Hotel in Turkey.

Selin and Sirin were among 39 people from Cyprus killed in the hotel collapse, during the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria. More than 50,000 people died in the two countries.

The event was a natural disaster, but bereaved families claim the extent of the destruction was partly man-made.

Celine and Sirin celebrate their volleyball victory. (Photo: Roshen Karakaya)

Her mother, Rushin Yusisoylu Karakaya, says Celine was smart and hardworking. She grew up with her best friend, Serene. Since childhood, they have been playing sports in their free time at school.

Last February, the duo traveled together to Adiyaman, Turkey, to compete in a volleyball tournament with a group of classmates.

Volleyball team from the Turkish Education College in Famagusta – All the children died in the collapse of the hotel they were staying in. (Photo: Roshen Karakaya)

Roshen and Celine usually FaceTime every night, but on the night of February 5, Celine was tired – they had won a match that day and were excitedly preparing for the next match.

“Celine said she was going to shower and go to bed. She texted to say 'night night' like she always did. And I replied to say: 'I love you.' She said 'I love you too.'

At 3:17 a.m. local time, Rusheen woke up to the earthquake that shook her home, 400 kilometers from the epicenter.

“We ran away from home, and I remember taking my phone. I immediately called Celine, but I couldn’t reach her,” she said.

“I texted her and said, ‘Call me.’ I started calling teachers, but there was no response. My husband was trying too, and we were trying everyone.”

Celine and her mother Roshen. (Photo: Roshen Karakaya)

After two anxious hours, Rushen was finally able to communicate with one of the fathers who accompanied his child on the trip. “The only thing I remember him saying was, 'I can't see the kids.' there is no children.”

Roshen rushed to the airport to try to fly to Celine; Her husband was eventually allowed to board one of the flights.

“I thought: What if she was out in the cold, or someone took her?” “I didn't think the building had collapsed,” she said.

But by the time Celine's father arrived, all that remained of the Isaias Hotel was rubble. One of the surviving teachers emerged from the rubble and shouted to the children in the dark, but there was no response.

“We thought maybe they had broken arms and legs, and we could get them out,” Rushin said. But the condition of the ruins was bad. “There was no room for them to breathe.”

“On the second day, during the night, they started finding bodies,” she said. “The first was one of the teachers. They were picking them out, one by one, while they were still asleep.

“They wouldn’t let the parents get close to the rubble. They started using sheets to block the view.”

It took five days to extract Celine from the rubble. She was found in her pajamas. Her father was called to identify her in a nearby tent.

“He saw her stockings,” she says. “They were new to the trip. As soon as he saw the socks, he knew it was her.”

Celine was just 14 years old when she died in the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria last year. (Photo: Roshen Karakaya)

It was the single largest tragedy in the history of North Cyprus: 72 people died in the Isaias collapse. 39 of them are from North Cyprus.

The collapse of the Isaias Tower not only claimed the lives of dozens of young people, but also called into question Turkey's building practices – and potentially flouted safety laws.

Experts told me that lives undoubtedly could have been saved if the buildings had been constructed to higher safety standards.

So far, 11 people have been arrested in connection with the collapse of the Isaias Hotel, including its owner, Ahmed Bozkurt. Five of them face charges of crimes that could result in them being sentenced to more than 20 years in prison if proven guilty.

The indictment – whose plaintiffs include North Cyprus Prime Minister Onal Ostell – alleges that the building was illegally converted from a residence into a hotel in 2001 and that the hotel illegally erected an additional floor.

A structural report on the hotel, published by the Department of Civil Engineering at Eastern Mediterranean University and published by LGC News, also claimed that inappropriate construction materials were used – including low-quality concrete, gravel and sand.

The defendants deny any wrongdoing, and Mr. Bozkurt insists there is nothing illegal in the Isaias family, calling allegations of poor construction “baseless.”

Speaking in court, Bozkurt said that “the only reason was the earthquake,” and pointed to the collapse of more than 850,000 other buildings.

Ruşen, along with the other bereaved parents, is committed to seeking justice for her daughter, and wants the disaster to lead to a comprehensive overhaul in Turkey's approach to safety.

“We lost our children and they will not come back,” she said. “It's not just us who have lost our children – it's the children we've lost all over Turkey as well.

She added: “Celine was my only daughter.” “The only thing I have now is this fight for justice.”

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