Cem Erkal Beşe

On 26 May 2019 I met Cem Erkal Beşe at the finals of World Archery World Cup #3 in Analya, Türkiye. He was there with his family celebrating the success of the wonderful Turkish team, and, in particular that of a young superstar and soon to be Olympic gold medalist, Mete Gazoz.

The entire New Zealand team was there in our ‘whites’ and very visible.

Early on, the President of the Turkish Archery Association came down the grandstand, stood behind me, wrapped his arms around my shoulders and thanked us, Jacinda Ardern, and the people of New Zealand for the respect and love we had shown to the victims of the 15 March mosque killings in Ōtautahi Christchurch two months earlier.

It was unexpected, the grief we all felt was still raw, and there were tears.

I didn’t know the giant of a man sitting next to me but, as I sobbed my heart out, his hand gently gripped my knee in support. No words were spoken. When I’d got myself together (somewhat), we introduced ourselves in his broken English and my minimal Turkish Arabic and shook hands. I gave him a team badge and he took the attached selfie.

Later, after we left, I got a Messenger contact from his delightful wife Fulya saying Cem wanted to be Facebook friends which was easily achieved.

For the next two years and four months we talked most days and agreed next time we were in Antalya we would come and stay with them.

Then, in September 2021, all communication stopped.

After a time, I guessed what might have happened but hoped against hope that I was wrong. I searched and found that Türkiye had a high death toll and vaccinations were low.

I spent night after night searching the internet for him but could find nothing. All his social media accounts were silent and remained so.

Today, my fears were confirmed.

A sad message from Fulya saying that, after one month is hospital, Cem had passed away on 04 September 2021 from COVID-19.

I am heartbroken.

I’m sharing this to let others who were there on the day we met, know this sad news.

Please stay safe and please take this virus seriously.

Blessings to Cem’s lovely family. In my heart always.

Thanks, Cushla, for tracking down the screenshots.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.