On-line cemetery serves town

Those originally from Sürgücü in the southeastern province of Mardin can now visit their loved ones’ tombs wherever they are, at any time of day, thanks to enterprising Mehmet Ayaz who is uploading photos of all of the tombs onto the internet. He will also soon provide live video feeds of both the town and the cemetery.

Ayaz migrated to Istanbul many years ago and decided one day that the only way to abide by the local tradition of visiting family graves every Thursday and during religious holidays was to take photos of the graves themselves back to Istanbul.

“I thought of the idea of praying at the cemetery via the internet when I wanted to visit the grave of one of my relatives who died a year ago,” he said, adding, “It is a tradition in our town to visit the tombs every Thursday night and on religious holidays.”

He said the number of people residing in Sürgücü was around the same as the number of Sürgücü natives who lived outside of it.

He said he set up the Internet site “www.surgucu.com,” which he designed himself, in order to address the needs of other Sürgücü natives.

Ayaz also established "Sürgücü TV" and started to release video footage from the cemetery and the town.

“Everybody living around Turkey or abroad can visit the Web site and do their duties for their relatives even from far away. Many people living in Turkey and outside Turkey have called and thanked me for the Web site,” he said.

Ayaz said he was not after any commercial benefits but that he only aims to make Sürgücü and its problems known to the public. Ayaz said what he had done also provided spiritual satisfaction for him, because appreciative people send him their well wishes and prayers.

“I have got pictures of nearly 1,200 graves in the cemetery but I could only upload 500 of them to the online-cemetery so far. I will also put cameras and start a live broadcast from the cemetery in the coming days. People will have the opportunity to see their home-town and the tombs of their relatives any time of the day.”

Ayaz has also received investment offers for Sürgücü thanks to his original Web site.

“People from Sürgücü living abroad especially want to invest in the town or do charity work for it. Dilovan Hasip who lives in the U.S. and whom I met with on the internet wants to establish an animal farm for $100,000 in Sürgücü. Additionally Musa Akar who lives in Istanbul, plans to construct a school, a Koran course and a lodging building for the town. Many historical buildings and tombs can be repaired thanks to the Web site.”

MARDİN – İhlas News Agency

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=on-line-cemetery-serves-town-2009-08-1