Halit Unal was a well-known businessman in Istanbul. He had to settle in Canada as a result of the witch-hunt in Turkey. Unal passed away in the hospital with homesickness while receiving cancer treatment in Ottawa for a long period of time.

While Unal was one of the respected businessmen in Istanbul, all his assets were confiscated by the greedy long hands of the regime during the state of emergency.

Gokhan Bozkus, who wrote about Unal’s suffering in his article titled “There is a Grave”, described his death as follows:

“Exactly one year ago today, a businessman was buried in Ottawa on a rainy day. Those who attended the funeral with umbrellas in their hands buried Halit Unal in tears.

So who was Halit Unal? And why did he leave his country and come to Canada?

Why wasn’t he in his country?

While he was one of the respected businessmen of Istanbul, all his property was confiscated. He was initially from Kutahya and was carrying out import business in Istanbul. Due to the witch hunt launched against the Hizmet Movement members, he left his country and migrated to Canada with the hope of starting a new life. Unfortunately, the stress and sadness he endured had a destructive impact on his health, and he had bone marrow cancer. Unal, who died at the age of 56, was the father of 3 children. Unal told his friend, who was treated for cancer at the same hospital as him, that he was waiting to die there and be buried in Ottawa and that he wanted to be a `Martyr`.

His friend said to Unal, “Brother Halit, there is still a lot of Hizmet (service) to do for humanity; we need to get better and continue serving to all.”.