Tears, a tissue, and iPhone photos – an Afghan softens a Turkish heart
Stuck in Istanbul’s epic traffic on a bridge crossing from Asia to Europe on the fabled Bosporus Strait, my cab driver launches into a charged monologue about refugees destroying Turkey.
He says Afghan refugees are stealing from bodies under the rubble of the Feb. 6 earthquake in southern Turkey, referring to a viral video accusing Afghans of stealing gold and cutting the arms off the dead. But the Turkish influencer, Ugur Kardas, who made the video was later arrested for spreading disinformation.
“We are not the thieves. We also died with you,” I say in my broken Turkish.
No matter what I say or what the truth is, the cabbie
