Ceremony in Turkey pays tribute to 2014 Pakistan terror attack victims

By Busra Nur Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) – A ceremony in Turkey’s capital Ankara on Thursday commemorated the victims of the 2014 Peshawar terror attack in Pakistan, which claimed the lives of 140 people, mostly children.

Speaking at the ceremony in the Kecioren district, Pakistani Ambassador to Turkey Muhammad Syrus Qazi said: “This carnage was one of the most tragic events in our history that had left every Pakistani in utter shock and grief.”

He reiterated that “as a nation, we pledge never to allow such tragedies to befall on us in the future.”

The ambassador, as cited in an embassy statement, expressed gratitude to the Turkish people for being “among the first in the world to reach out and express strong solidarity with the people of Pakistan in the dark hour of grief.”

The ceremony was attended by officials from the Kecioren Municipality and the Pakistani Embassy, among others. In memory of the victims, the municipality planted 140 trees.

“The moral gesture of Kecioren Municipality of planting a tree for each martyr is a source of strength for the grieving families and the Pakistani nation. This would keep the memory of our children alive in Turkey forever,” said Qazi.

A gun-and-bomb attack on an army-run school in northwestern Pakistan’s Peshawar city killed 140 people, mostly schoolchildren, in 2014. The attack was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a banned militant outfit responsible for the majority of terrorist attacks in the country.