"Wish You Were Here," in the ghost town of Antioch

A shop owner selling old items spread on the sidewalk in Turkey's quake hit city of Antioch as he had Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here playing on a tape recorder was filmed by The Economist's correspondent Piotr Zalewski, who posted the video on Twitter, saying:

Found this character, who has refused to leave Antakya, sitting in front of his antiques shop and blasting Pink Floyd from a cassette player to an audience of bemused soldiers and destroyed buildings. “The message I wanted to give,” he says, “is that life has to go on.” pic.twitter.com/CEILx2z45l

— Piotr Zalewski (@p_zalewski) March 1, 2023

"Found this character, who has refused to leave Antakya, sitting in front of his antiques shop and blasting Pink Floyd from a cassette player to an audience of bemused soldiers and destroyed buildings. 'The message I wanted to give,' he says, 'is that life has to go on.'"

Zalewski said in another tweet, "Also, amid the ruins:" and posted the photo of a building face with a hand script in big letters that reads: "We will return, Antakya"

Antioch (officially Antakya) is among the cities worst hit by the twin earthquakes on 6 February, and it has turned into a ghost town after a large part of the survivors have left the city following the disaster.

A Hellenistic city founded in 300 BC, Antioch was a chief center of early Christianity during Roman times.

Armenian deputy for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) had warned on 17 February that a mere 1% of the buildings in the city are still inhabitable and that "Turkey's last remaining multicultural center is on brink of obliteration."