Turks Look to History and Foresee Rebirth of Ancient Antakya from Earthquake Ruins

The destroyed Habib-i Najjar Mosque is pictured in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Antakya, Türkiye, February 16, 2023. (Reuters)
The destroyed Habib-i Najjar Mosque is pictured in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Antakya, Türkiye, February 16, 2023. (Reuters)
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Turks Look to History and Foresee Rebirth of Ancient Antakya from Earthquake Ruins

The destroyed Habib-i Najjar Mosque is pictured in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Antakya, Türkiye, February 16, 2023. (Reuters)
The destroyed Habib-i Najjar Mosque is pictured in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Antakya, Türkiye, February 16, 2023. (Reuters)

Remnants of ancient Abrahamic history were destroyed when an earthquake flattened much of Antakya in southern Türkiye last month, but many hope the city can rise from the rubble as it has done over centuries of disasters and conquests.

Established by the Seleucid Empire in 300 BC, Antakya, formerly Antioch, has been home to Jews, Christians and Muslims and destroyed or heavily damaged several times as it changed hands between Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Ottomans.

Much of the rescue effort after the Feb. 6 earthquakes focused on the modern, residential side of Antakya, where thousands were caught in their sleep and crushed or trapped under the rubble. In total, nearly 52,000 people were killed in Türkiye and Syria.

On the opposite bank of the Orontes River, in the old town once popular with tourists, mosques and churches lie ruined. Rescue efforts in the area, populated with businesses rather than homes, were sparse, while security forces kept guard against looters at every corner.

Abdurrahman Kurdo, a business student and the manager of a hotel near the destroyed Antioch Greek Orthodox Church, was sifting through the rubble to salvage what he could of Antakya's culture. So far he had found an issue of Hatay Magazine, celebrating life in Türkiye’s southernmost province, from the 1970s.

"The rubble in this area is not only made up of concrete piles, rocks and roof tiles - the culture of Hatay lies underneath," he said.

"What we learn from our elders is that Hatay witnessed seven earthquakes in its history but it was reborn from its ashes. We believe that Hatay will be reborn from its ashes again."

The entrance to the courtyard of the church, rebuilt after an earthquake in 1872, can now only be accessed from a side street by climbing over a mound of debris.

Habib-i Najjar Mosque

The bell tower lies on its side, with clothes placed on top for earthquake victims to take. From the courtyard, the entrance to the church is barely recognizable, the door hidden behind rubble.

The floor is also covered by rubble from the collapsed roof, while several paintings of Jesus and the saints hang slanted and covered in dust and mud on the walls. Others lie among the debris.

The Habib-i Najjar Mosque, said to be the first mosque in the Anatolia peninsula, dates back to the Roman Empire, when it is believed there was a pagan temple in its place. A church built in its place was turned into a mosque and then back to a church, a pattern repeating itself several times. It was last rebuilt by the Ottoman Empire in the 1800s after an earthquake.

The minaret collapsed in last month's disaster and only a small section of the dome above the pulpit can be seen behind the rubble of the front wall that fell into the courtyard, while three other walls appear intact.

The Ulu Camii (Grand Mosque), dating back to the 18th century, collapsed, while the minaret of the Sarimiye Mosque, built in the 16th century, has toppled. Other historical buildings, including the governor's office, were also destroyed.

Kurdo recalled how people of different religions coexisted in the city. "We always lived together, we grew up together," he said. "We believe we will lift up Hatay again as one power."

Among the victims of the Feb. 6 earthquake were Saul Cenudioglu, leader of the Jewish community in Antakya, and his wife, Tuna Cenudioglu.

The Antioch Synagogue is still standing but there are cracks in the walls and debris everywhere, said Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States.

‘Coexistence, tolerance’

Antakya has been home to Jews for more than 2,300 years but the community had shrunk to fewer than 20 in recent years.

"However small it was, it had a very big part in the heart of the city," Chitrik said. "The heart of Antakya always showed this coexistence, tolerance. It was quite amazing to see this real connection between different traditions, cultures, ethnic backgrounds."

Olcay Aydemir, an architect and restoration expert, said the region had experienced earthquakes over thousands of years and restoration efforts had to be sensitive.

"These structures rise from their ashes," she said. "These rocks should not be thrown away. The ones that can be re-used need to be re-used."

The structures that were still partly standing, such as the Habib-i Najjar Mosque, needed to be strengthened, Aydemir said, adding that every collapsed structure had to be examined individually to learn from the past and apply the lessons to the future.

"The last earthquake was bigger than expected. But it brought with it important data that could inform us about structures' weaknesses and reasons for their collapse," she said.



Rare Diseases often Go Undiagnosed or Untreated in Parts of Africa. A Project Seeks to Change That

Neurology student Henriette Dieng examines Abdou Diop, a patient with genetic neuropathy at Pedro Rodriguez's clinic in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Neurology student Henriette Dieng examines Abdou Diop, a patient with genetic neuropathy at Pedro Rodriguez's clinic in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
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Rare Diseases often Go Undiagnosed or Untreated in Parts of Africa. A Project Seeks to Change That

Neurology student Henriette Dieng examines Abdou Diop, a patient with genetic neuropathy at Pedro Rodriguez's clinic in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Neurology student Henriette Dieng examines Abdou Diop, a patient with genetic neuropathy at Pedro Rodriguez's clinic in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

Ndeye Lam visits the cemetery often, praying and gently touching the seashells laid out across her daughter’s gravesite.

“Mariama will always be here,” she said, stepping away from the grave and onto a path that winds through rows of monuments outlined with white tile, stone and sand.

At home, Lam and her husband Pathé smiled over an old video clip of their daughter beaming as she celebrated her 13th birthday with cake and sparklers. When the girl was little, she loved to play. By 13, her muscles had weakened, her spine had curved and stiffened and in her last months, she struggled increasingly to breathe.

She visited Fann hospital in Dakar, where neurologist Dr. Pedro Rodriguez Cruz measured her lung capacity. He suspects Mariama had SELENON-related myopathy, a muscular dystrophy that causes severe respiratory compromise. A new BiPAP machine might have helped to ease her breathing, but it was too late.

Globally, more than 350 million people live with rare diseases, most of them caused by a misstep hidden within their genes. Some conditions can be caught early and treated—but in parts of Africa where population data and resources are scarce, many people go undiagnosed. Rodriguez is trying to change that by connecting patients with genetic testing and medical support, while gathering key data from those patients and their families.

“Most rare disease data has been collected from people of European ancestry, so we have very little knowledge about what’s happening in other parts of the world, mainly in Africa,” Rodriguez said, The AP news reported.

His research is funded by organizations including the La Caixa Foundation in Spain and the National Ataxia Foundation in the United States. And he has consulted with scientists in China, France, Boston, and elsewhere around the world, documenting rare diseases and novel disease-causing gene variants.

That research is creating a library of genetic data for scientists and clinicians. Patients in Senegal are benefiting, too, with a path to diagnosis.

Genetic testing and diagnosis can be life-saving In Guediawaye, Fatoumata Binta Sané’s daughter Aissata has glutaric acidemia type I, an inherited disorder in which the body can’t process certain proteins properly. Her arms and legs are tightly drawn up toward her chest. She can’t walk or reach for things, speak, sit on her own or hold her head up. Sané cradles Aissata in her arms constantly, and the 8-year-old smiles at the sound of her mother’s voice.

In the U.S., newborns are screened for treatable genetic conditions. In Senegal, newborn screening is not routine. Infants who appear healthy at birth might go undiagnosed and experience irreversible decline. Glutaric acidemia type I, for example, can cause brain damage, seizures, coma and early death.

Sané is waiting for genetic testing results for Aissata’s one-year-old sister Aminata. Patients can live long, healthy lives if they start treatment before the onset of symptoms. That includes following a strict diet, avoiding protein-rich foods like nuts, fish and meat and taking the supplement L-carnitine. Though consultation with Rodriguez was free, lifelong treatment is not. If Aminata shares her sister’s disease, Sané will need government assistance to buy medication.

Prof. Moustapha Ndiaye, head of the neurology department at Fann, hopes young physicians will graduate prepared to assist rare disease patients not just in Senegal but in other African countries.

“Students travel from across Africa to study here,” Ndiaye said.

At the start of her career, Dr. Henriette Senghor saw patients who were hospitalized for months. Some died, and no one knew why.

“There was this problem—there was this void,” said Senghor, who’s now training with Rodriguez.

In 2021, Rodriguez established a partnership between the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar and CNAG, the National Center for Genomic Analysis in Barcelona. Rodriguez collects patients’ blood samples and delivers the extracted DNA to Barcelona, where scientists sequence it, storing the answers it holds in a large database. Almost 1,300 participants—patients and families—have enrolled in his study of rare disease in West Africa.

Families cross borders for care In the Gambia, Fatou Samba’s sons Adama, 8, and Gibriel, 4, like to play soccer and feed the sheep in their backyard. On a recent afternoon, they took turns playing with a toy airplane and a globe. Adama, who hopes to be a pilot, pointed to where he wanted to go: the U.S. Outside, he started to climb a pile of bicycles propped up against the wall, and Gibriel followed.

“We’re climbing Mount Everest,” Adama said.

Standing on a bicycle wheel, Adama hesitated. Samba reached for him, setting him down on solid ground. There is a tiny scar on his forehead where broken skin has been stitched back together. Last year, Samba couldn’t explain his frequent falling, so she sought answers in Dakar. Rodriguez confirmed Adama had Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Gibriel's genetic test results are pending. Children often lose the ability to run or climb stairs first, and later can’t walk or raise their arms. In adulthood, they develop heart and breathing problems.

Both boys are taking corticosteroids, which can slow disease progression for patients diagnosed early.

“Without the medication, it would have been terrible. Once we started, after a few weeks we saw improvement,” Samba said. “Doctors are destined to investigate (the disease) and find a cure ... I pray doctors will find a cure.”

Data is the first step Back at Fann Hospital, Rodriguez and Senghor consult with Woly Diene, 25, and her mother and brother. When Diene was 15, she started falling at school. Soon, she felt pain throughout her body. She couldn’t move. She lost her hearing, the strength in her hands and control of the muscles in her face.

Diene, who comes from a rural village in Senegal, has riboflavin transporter deficiency. High doses of vitamin B2—a supplement available on Amazon—can slow, stop and even reverse damage from this condition that is fatal without treatment.

Diene took her first dose when she was diagnosed in August 2023. She still has some difficulty hearing, but Diene is walking again. She has regained the strength in her face and hands. Diene’s brother Thierno said vitamin B2 is expensive, but he knows his sister needs it for the rest of her life.

“I am happy,” Diene said, smiling. “I hope to keep improving.”

While efforts like these help patients, they also allow doctors to collect data—and that’s vital for rare disease research, policy and drug development, said Lauren Moore, chief scientific officer at the National Ataxia Foundation.

“The most prevalent diseases get the most attention and the most funding,” she said. “Data ... really is the first step.”

A $50,000 grant from the foundation allows Rodriguez and colleagues to enroll study participants in Senegal and Nigeria with inherited ataxias—which can lead to muscle weakness, loss of mobility, hearing and vision difficulties and life-shortening heart problems.

The USAID cuts have not affected his research, but grant awards are limited. Rodriguez, Senghor and Rokhaya Ndiaye, professor of human genetics at the University of Dakar, are making plans to ensure genetic testing continues in Senegal.

Global collaboration is essential, said Ndiaye—and strengthening local infrastructure is just as important.

“The need is there,” she said. “And we have a lot of hope.”