Anger in Turkey over selling tents to quake charity by Red Crescent
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Turkish opposition and media outlets strongly criticized the Turkish Red Crescent, Turkey’s largest charity, for selling tents to the victims of the Feb.6 earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria instead of donating them.
The Cumhuriyet daily newspaper broke the story, as it confirmed in a report that the Turkish Red Crescent had sold 2.050 tents to the Turkish local AHBAP charity for $2.4 million.
On Feb. 6, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northwestern Syria, killing about 50.000 individuals and destroying hundreds of buildings, leaving many homeless.
“This is a scandal, Turkey’s largest charity, the Red Crescent, sold tents instead of distributing them for free to those in need,” said Murat Agirel, the Cumhuriyet journalist who wrote the report.
Kerem Kinik, head of the Turkish Red Crescent tweeted that they had provided the tents to Ahbap charity at “cost price”.
“The Red Crescent’s cooperation with Ahbap is moral, reasonable and ethical,” Kinik added.
But his statements did not stop the outcry in the media outlets as several opposition figures called for the resignation of the Red Crescent chairman.
“Shame on you,” Meral Aksener, chairwoman of the nationalist Iyi Party, said on Twitter.
Instead of condemning the tents’ bargain, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused those criticizing the Red Crescent as “dishonest and vile”.
In response, the leader of the main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, accused Erdogan in a tweet of “insulting the earthquake victims”.
Following the massive earthquake, not just the Red Crescent but also the Turkish government itself was accused of failing to provide the needed assistants to quake victims in several locations.