An unnamed man who describes himself as a medic has made an appeal to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to help rescue those still trapped at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.
In a short video message released late Thursday, the man addresses Erdogan directly: “We are constantly being shelled from the air, sea and land. I beg you to carry out the procedure for the withdrawal of people, including the military, from the territory of Azovstal, to stop this nightmare.”
The man says he is a Crimean Tatar and a Muslim.
“I received a medical education before the invasion, and now I am providing medical assistance to Azovstal. Before the war, I never saw death, I worked on an ambulance, I always helped people as much as I could. But it hurts to watch people die in the arms, just from a lack of antibiotics,” he said.
He said the injured are dying in pain.
“People are dying: some from bullets, some from hunger. They die in agony, from lack of medicines and from terrible conditions. We don’t have time and I don’t know if we have tomorrow,” he said.
Reaching out to Erdoğan, he said: “263 kilometres from you, across the sea, they kill people who are just protecting their land, women and children. We didn’t attack anyone.”
He added, “Turkey and Ukraine have always maintained close relations. You and your country have a great weight in the politics of our region. We don’t know who to write and who to contact. Therefore, I turn to you.”
