A SCULPTURE of a bird bearing the image of Elif Kanlıoğlu was unveiled to the public at a newly created park in Didim at the weekend.

The peace park on Selanik Caddesi, bordering streets 877-880, in Yeni Mahalle, has been in honour of Elif, who was among 95 people who died on October 10, last year, in what, at that time, was the worst terror atrocity in Turkey.

The opening of the Elif Kanlıoğlu/October 10 Peace Park was attended on Saturday by her parents, as well as civic dignitaries. 

Elif was caught in twin suicide bomb blasts which killed people and maimed close to 300 as crowds gathered in Ankara. Elif, aged 20, was a foreign languages student at the University of Mersin.

Among the dead was 70-year-old Meryem Bulut, or Mother Meryem, a member of the famous Saturday Mothers group, who have protested the disappearance of their loved ones, mostly sons, through silent sit-ins at Galatasaray Square in downtown Istanbul since 1995.

Scores of Didim residents attended the opening of the park which has a size of 2,500 square meters.

Mayor Deniz Atabay said “We made this park in order to keep Elif’s name alive.”