Despite the objections of Alperen Özcan’s (22) father, who was martyred while intervening in the forest fire in Seyitgazi district of Eskişehir, a volunteer of Search and Rescue Association (AKUT), he went to fight the fire.
The bodies of the 5 AKUT volunteers who were martyred in the forest fire that started in Seyitgazi and spread to the Afyonkarahisar border were brought to Ahmet Hamdi Akseki Mosque to be sent off on their final journey. It was stated that Alperen Özcan also served during the earthquakes on February 6. It was learned that on the day Özcan was going to Eskişehir, his father was worried and kept him in traffic to not catch the service, but he managed to pick Özcan up by waiting for the vehicle to go to the region.
Alperen Özcan’s cousin Hasan Biber said, “We couldn’t reach Alperen from noon yesterday, but we thought it was because of the communication sources there. His mother, father, aunt, and grandfather set off for Eskişehir to check the hospitals at 9:00 p.m. As they were about to pass Polatlı, they received news. They were told in the news that he was martyred. After receiving the news of his martyrdom, of course, the sad news spreads quickly. The message was written to AKUT as a volunteer. He used to hang from ropes outside of shopping malls and do window cleaning jobs. He was a strong, brave, self-confident young man. He was already going there to help; both for animals and people. He was thinking of returning to his educational life but it was not meant to be.”
Biber emphasized that Özcan insisted on going to the region, saying, “According to what our uncle told us, our uncle didn’t want to send him. Despite not wanting to send, he insisted a lot on going. They even delayed a bit in traffic so that he wouldn’t catch the service but he reached it to experience martyrdom. Despite their delay, those in the service waited for him. Before his martyrdom, there was a message exchange with his mother around 6:00 a.m.; ‘Extinguishing efforts are positive, we have started to reconcile; if the wind does not blow from the wrong direction, does not reignite, we can finish it today’ and a conversation. And he was able to meet his mother again around noon. There was no possibility of meeting after that anyway. He had also gone to the Kahramanmaraş earthquake. He was volunteering to go to other fires as well, but this time his departure was a bit more meaningful”
