A street vendor hawking simit, the traditional Turkish sesame pastry, found six half- and twelve quarter-coins made of gold. Haci Mehmet Aksu, 45, was in Kahramanmaras’ Turkoglu municipality, in the Cumhuriyet district, when a bag piqued his interest.

Aksu, who opened up the bag to inspect the contents, realised there were 6 half-coins and 12 quarter-coins of gold within. He handed over his simit cart to a colleague, and rushed off to the district’s police department.

Aksu entrusted the gold with the police and then went over to the Turkoglu municipality and the religious affairs directorate and had his find announced from loudspeakers.

After conducting research, the police determined that the gold belonged to Duran Arslan, 68, and invited him to the station to hand over his coins.

Arslan told the Anadolu Agency that he had brought the gold along to pay for his 72-year old wife Nergiz Arslan’s intensive care expenses.

Arslan said he was very happy that his gold had been found, adding “I thank my simit vendor brother for taking the gold to the police. I had saved up for the gold for my wife and I. My wife was sick, I meant to use the gold to cover her hospital expenses. I somewhat misplaced the gold, I didn’t notice losing it,” repeating “I thank my simit vendor brother,” to express his gratitude.

Arslan told AA that his wife is a chronic goitre- and bronchitis-sufferer so he had brought her to Turkoglu Public Hospital but an examination suggested Covid-19. She was then transferred to Necip Fazil Public Hospital, where she has been in intensive care for three weeks, so he thought he might need to use the gold and brought the coins along.

Simit vendor Haci Mehmet Aksu said he saw a bag as he was selling simit and he was suspicious. When he opened up the bag, he saw the gold and “I immediately brought [the bag] to the police station. Then I notified the gendarmerie, the municipality, mukhtars and mosques. We found the owner today. I did my duty as a human being.”