The body of a Turkish IT specialist, who was fleeing Turkish crackdown, was recovered from a river that divides Turkish-Greek territory.

78 days ago, Mustafa Zumre and his wife Esra, along with their 2 and 3 years old children, came to the Turkish-Greek border to escape the Turkish crackdown. Mrs. Zumre was among tens of thousands of teachers purged since the failed military coup. Her husband, an IT engineer at Havelsan, Turkish air defense technology company, was fired from his job and was wanted for arrest (Havelsan later announced that Mr. Zumre did not work for the company).

As they got on a dinghy boat to cross the border, divided only by the Meric (Evros in Greek) river, Turkish security forces showed up. Since the smugglers would not flee the Turkish border guards, Mr. Zumre jumped into the river to escape by swimming to the Greek shore. He never made it.

The Turkish police detained Esra and interrogated her. She was later released. Turkey’s disaster management authority launched a search and rescue efforts only two months after Mr. Zumre disappeared. On Wednesday, the search teams found his body 4 miles away from where he jumped. Since his body was unrecognizable, the Istanbul Institute of Forensic Medicine identifi̇ed Mr. Zumre through DNA testing.

Mr. Zumre is not the only one who tried to cross the Meric river to Greece. Hundreds of professors, journalists, and sacked public employees crossed the river to reach Greece. Many of them are living in Greek refugee camps.

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