Always positive!
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Sevgül Uludağ…
Sevgül abla…
Or, Sevgül aba…
Just as she calls out to us, “abammm, darling…” [Editor’s note: ‘Aba’ is a colloquial term, derived from the word ‘abla’, used to describe siblingly closeness. It literally translates as ‘sister’ but when accompanied with an ‘m’ in the end, as in ‘abam’, it refers to ‘my sister’. It may sound confusing at times since it can also be used by the ‘sister’ herself while addressing a close one in a way to express affection and endearment. It may also be read as ‘sweetheart’.]
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I did not see Sevgül abla within the past two months…
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Normally, every weekday after finishing the morning programme on Sim TV, I collect the daily newspapers and drop them off at the Yenidüzen News Centre…
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And whilst doing so, I usually bump into Sevgül abla…
And that encounter, that brief chat, that smiling face, that positive energy, has a huge impact on making my day absolutely brilliant…
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It won’t anymore…
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As I said, I didn’t come across Sevgül Uludağ for two months…
“She must be on leave,” I thought, and didn’t ask anyone anything…
Then, when I asked, “Where on earth is Sevgül abla?”, I received the news that “she’s not well…”…
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I also learnt the diagnosis and the name of her illness, and that her condition wasn’t improving at all—and never would…
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She’d sent word saying, “Don’t let anyone come to visit me; just remember me as I am”…
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How can we forget you, abammm…
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She was, in my view, a woman of utmost integrity, never one to ‘call a spade a spade’…
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But I always used to wonder, “How can a person manage to be so full of positive energy?”!
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Of course, being ‘positive’ – or appearing to be so – didn’t necessarily mean that a person had to be happy or healthy, or that they never experienced any negative emotions…
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Sevgül abla was someone who could give you hope even in your most difficult moments…
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She was understanding towards everyone and knew how to listen with a smile…
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When she spoke, she was like a doctor administering a ‘feel-good’ injection…
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She was a true big sister who, rather than draining you with her energy, refreshed you with it…
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She wasn’t just the big sister to the young staff at Yenidüzen; she was also a mother to the little dogs around the newspaper building…
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I’ll always remember how those little dogs – especially the ‘yavrı gulicik’ [Editor’s note: Colloquial term for ‘small puppies’] as we say in Cyprus – would greet her every morning as she got out of her car…
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I offer my condolences to her beloved husband, Zeki Erkut, and her son, Burak…
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Rest in peace, ‘abammmm’…
I love you, you know…
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May God strike us down if we ever forget you!
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Ah, a few words on Sevgül’s struggle.
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Peace, Cyprus, the missing, humanity first…
And of course, women’s rights…
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Our flag is peace, our banner is a solution…
I promise, Sevgül, I promise…
Source: ABAMMM!
