Turkey: PKK bomb victim's organs to benefit 4 people

By Nurten Aslan

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey

The organs of a young girl who succumbed to her wounds on Wednesday following a bomb attack by PKK terrorists in southeastern Turkey will save four people's lives, the family said Wednesday.

The 17-year-old Habibe Aydin was among the 12 people who were martyred on Nov. 4 when a car bomb rocked a police building in the central district of Baglar in Diyarbakir province.

Habibe Aydin’s devastated family told reporters that their only consolation was that she would save four lives.

"We donated her organs to save other lives. She was holding on to life with blood donations when she was two years old. Now we are doing the same thing," the father Haci Aydin said.

On the morning of the attack, Habibe Aydin, one of five children, left home for work at a textile mill to support her family, Aydin's older brother Emin said.

"My sister had suffered cerebral hemorrhage due to the severity of the explosion. After 10 days she had started to open her eyes, reacting. Then her condition deteriorated and they declared a brain death," Emin Aydin said.

"Those who did this cannot be human. She was vivacious and loved by everyone," Emin said.

Aydin's organs are expected to benefit four people in the provinces of Ankara, Antalya, Malatya and Diyarbakir, according to Dicle University Medical Faculty Hospital's head physician Gokhan Kirbas.

"The kidneys of Aydin will give life in Ankara and Antalya, her liver will be sent to Malatya while her cornea will be donated in Diyarbakir," said Kirbas, commending the family’s decision.

"This decision requires devotion and responsibility," Kirbas added.

The attack conducted during the morning rush hour left 100 others wounded and destroyed nearby buildings. The governor’s office said the PKK had claimed responsibility for the attack.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.

Since then, PKK terrorists have martyred nearly 800 members of security forces and claimed the lives of over 310 civilians, including women and children, while more than 10,000 PKK terrorists have been killed or apprehended in army operations.