As he bid them an emotional goodbye, Abdulhekim Esiyok assured his weeping Turkish parents he would one day return from distant New York City with enough earnings to pluck them from poverty.
Now, only a few months later, they are awaiting the arrival of his casket.
The shattered mother and father of the young Turkish migrant who was fatally mowed down by an alleged drunk driver in Manhattan this weekend are now bracing for his untimely return home.
“They are very sad about what happened to their son,” a friend told The Post Wednesday, speaking in Turkish. “They are very sad.”
Esiyok was crossing Third Avenue near East 21st Street Sunday night when Mahbub Ali, 26, slammed into him.
The 23-year-old victim — who had only been in America for a few months — was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital.
Originally from rural Agri in eastern Turkey on the Iranian border, Esiyok decided to leave his mountainous home region and its limited economic opportunities
Hearing of abundant employment in New York, Esiyok — who was unmarried and had no children — exited his former life and landed at JFK Airport.
With little money or immediate prospects, Esiyok awoke early each morning at a migrant shelter near the scene of his death and tirelessly hit the pavement in order to secure steady employment. He planned to send his earnings back to his family in order to ease their own impoverishment, and was determined to find work.
Esiyok’s ultimate goal, associates said, was to cobble together enough money to start a family of his own.
Friends said he scoured the city for employment each day, but struggled to land a dependable position.
His rudimentary Engilsh, they said, hampered his efforts and his early optimism began to wane.
“He was just a regular young person,” the friend said. “He liked sports, he wanted something more for his life.”
