Activist makes largest poster for Syrian martyrs with 50,000 photo

Reporting by Faris Al Rfai; Translation by Dani Murad

With the largest poster for the Syrian revolution ever made, Tamer Turkmani, a 24 years old young man, created a panoramic poster that features pictures of 50 thousand martyrs, including men, women, and children across Syria, out of the total number of “104800” since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, which will be displayed later in a sit-in organized by Syrian activists in front of the Syrian Embassy in Amman.

Turkmani clarified that the idea behind this poster came after watching different pictures of martyrs on TV from all Syrian cities, and since he works in designing and photography, he decided that the least he could do to honor their souls for their great sacrifices is to design this poster, therefore he created an event on Facebook that received a great admiration among people and friends , and started receiving pictures of martyrs, from 218 pictures in one day, to receiving 2000 with God’s help and people’s contributions, in order to commemorate all martyrs in one unifying picture after life made them apart.

Regarding the implementation of this huge project and the available resources, the owner of the project said: “my idea was to collect the pictures in a panoramic way on a special thick paper for posters, with a length of 170 meters and a width of meter and a half, in which each image took a 5 × 5 cm or slightly larger, and names of the martyrs or their areas were kept confidential, because some families did not want to mention their relatives’ names, for personal reasons, therefore it was enough to document their pictures, and recite Surah al- Fatiha on their pure souls, since names are only ink on papers .

And when asked if Homs had the biggest share of martyrs, he replied with a Homsi sense of humor: “what is Homs? I don’t know such name in my project” and added: “Syria is one, each person killed inside Syria is ultimately Syrian and what separates us is just the name of our areas. We are brothers, there are no names, martyrs’ memories will remain in our hearts, and Heaven will be their eternal abode.

And regarding his vision of how to display this poster and where, Turkmani said: it will be displayed in a huge silent sit-in, in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman, and we'll send a copy of the poster at the request of some Syrian activists in Munich, Berlin, Germany, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the U.S., however we will not send the original file to any entity, fearing it might be exploited and also to avoid more expenses.

Turkmani clarified the financial resources behind his project saying:” I was originally a volunteer in a group and I receive a salary of a volunteer, I can’t afford the poster’s expenses, I only have my salary which I saved for the printing process, and I contacted my friends and people to contribute in the event, and will sell my camera and computer if I have to, and God’s willing I will finish the printing in Ramadan.

“However, until now I haven’t received any financial support because a lot of people have accused me of trading with martyrs ‘blood and the harshest comment was “What martyrs are you talking about…The living are much more important than the dead”. And my answer is always” thank you for your contribution and hope to see you in the event,” he added.

And when we asked him about the story of a martyr that struck him the most in his poster, he said: I had a good friend from Al Hifeh town, in lattakia suburbs, who documented all the martyrs in his area and was martyred later in clashes with the regime, and therefore has documented himself, in addition to that I was deeply saddened by children’s massacres, field executions, and tortures in prisons.

And whether this documentary will receive world’s sympathy despite its slackening and silence for three years of massacres. Turkmani said: “of course this project will receive the kind of attention it deserves, for the people who lost their lives and sacrificed everything to gain their freedom and because it was accomplished by one person, and this in itself represents a major challenge for many people or officials around the world.

Turkmani concluded: "My message to the families of martyrs: We are your sons and brothers, and your loved ones will remain forever in our hearts, unforgettable, for they died in order for us to live, and I apologize to the unknown martyrs, whom we couldn’t find their pictures, may peace be upon their pure souls and immortality to their memory.