Kurulus: Osman actor Cagdas Cankaya and his wife die in Turkiye-Syria earthquake

Turkiye and Syria were struck by an earthquake of a massive scale that had a deadly impact. At least 20,937 people were killed and 80,088 others injured, according to the country’s disaster agency. Turkish series Kurulus: Osman actor Cagdas Cankaya and his Armenian wife Zilan Tigris were among the deceased.

On Monday, the drama’s official Instagram page shared a post dedicated to the couple and expressed their condolences. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of a valuable actor in our TV series Kurulus: Osman, Cagdas Cankaya, and his musician wife, Zilan Tigris, in the earthquake disaster that deeply injured us all,” they wrote in the caption.

Praying for all those impacted by the calamity, they said, “We wish God’s mercy on Cagdas Cankaya, his wife and all our citizens who lost their lives in the earthquake, and our condolences to their relatives.” Addressing the deceased, they added, “May your place be heaven.”

A Turkish publication reported on February 7 that the Armenian singer and her husband had not been removed from the rubble immediately. The centre for the study of Western Armenian affairs expressed hope that they would be found safe and sound.

The earthquake hit Turkiye and northwest Syria on February 6, flattening apartment blocks and heaping more destruction on Syrian cities already devastated by years of war. The magnitude 7.8 quake brought down whole apartment blocks in Turkish cities and piled more devastation on millions of Syrians displaced by years of war.

The worst tremor to strike Turkey this century, it came before sunrise in harsh weather and was followed in the early afternoon by another large quake of magnitude 7.7.