Associations, NGOs, banks launch aid campaigns for Soma victims


Date posted: May 16, 2014

ANKARA

Many business associations, private banks, NGOs and football clubs have launched aid campaigns for families of the victims of the coal mining incident in Soma, where an explosion and fire killed at least 283 mineworkers.
In a press statement on Thursday, Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said that TOBB has launched an aid campaign for the families of the martyred miners with a donation TL 5 million. Hisarcıklıoğlu also urged the business community take part in this campaign.​“Along with our chambers and exchanges in 81 provinces and 160 counties, we want to support the families of the martyred miners who we consider our charges. With this in mind, we are launching an aid campaign throughout the country. For the first step, we are donating TL 5 million to the campaign. I urge all of businesses to take part in the campaign,” Hisarcıklıoğlu said.

The Professional Hotel Managers’ Association (POYD) also started an aid campaign for the families of miners who died in the accident. POYD President Ali Kızıldağ stressed that with an official writing sent to the hotels the association will ask hotel managers, personnel and customers to contribute this campaign.

The Young Businessmen’s Association of Turkey (TÜGİAD) Head of Ankara branch Türker Naslı announced that TÜGİAD, in a move to show its solidarity with the people of Soma, has launched an education campaign for the children of the mine accident victims.

The İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) will donate TL 2 million in cash to families of the victims, and it will also provide them with aid in the form of food. The first truck with 500 aid packages will depart on Saturday for Soma, an İTO statement said on Friday.

Similarly, the Ankara Chamber of Commerce stressed in a press release on Friday that it will donate TL 1 million for those who have lost their relatives in the mine accident along with providing scholarships for the victims’ children.

Meanwhile, Turkish Bar Association (TBB) Chairman Metin Feyzioğlu told reporters on Thursday that the TBB will start an aid campaign for the Soma victims’ families. “We have applied to the Ankara Governor’s Office for the required legal permissions. We are starting this campaign for the education of children who lost their fathers in the mine accident,” Feyzioğlu said.

Banks write off Soma victims’ debts

Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya has announced via Twitter that it will write off all of the individual financial credit and credit card debts of the miners who lost their lives in the mine blast. The bank also stressed that it has deferred individual credits for a year at its Soma branch. Similarly, ING Bank General Manager Pınar Abay said on Twitter that all the credit card debt of the Soma miners who died in the accident will be written off.

İş Bankası, Aktifbank, Akbank, Şekerbank, Türk Ekonomi Bank (TEB) and Türkiye Finans also issued statements stressing they will clear the credit card debts of the miners who died in the accident.

Sakarya University Rector Muzaffer Elmas said the university has started a campaign for those who lost their relatives in Soma, and he donated one month of salary to the aid campaign.

İhsan Özçukurlu, chairman of the National Education Foundation (MEV), stressed that the foundation will cover all the boarding school expenses of the Soma victim’s children and it will also give scholarships for university students who lost a parent in the mine blast.

Beşiktaş Municipality in İstanbul announced that it has canceled all festivities for May 19’s Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day. The municipality will donate the money that was budgeted for the May 19 celebrations, about TL 2 million, to the Soma miners’ families.

Football clubs to raise funds for Soma

Meanwhile, Fenerbahçe Football Club will create a scholarship fund for children in Soma to cover their education expenses. The club’s administrative board members will initially cover the education expenses of up to 100 children for five years. The amount allocated for the fund is TL 1.8 million.

Galatasaray has agreed to play a match with Spain’s Atletico Madrid, where former Galatasaray member Arda Turan now plays, for Soma in early August. The income generated from this match will be donated to the Soma victims and their families. Moreover, the Galatasaray football players have agreed to donate their salaries for the match against Kayseri Erciyesspor in the last week of Turkey’s Super League to the victims’ families.

The Beşiktaş football club will also donate the revenue of its match with Gençlerbirliği in the last week of the league to Soma.

Turkish pop singer Demet Akalın and her husband Okan Kurt announced via Twitter that they will send two trucks carrying food to Soma.

Meanwhile, the US, the European Union, France, Poland, Iran, Israel, Greece and the UK have offered their condolences to Turkey.

Source: Todays Zaman , May 16, 2014


Related News

Latin American firms seek Turkey investments at TUSKON meet

A total of 80 businesspeople from 10 Latin American countries met in Turkey’s Kayseri province on Tuesday to discuss investment and trade opportunities with local counterparts in a new “trade bridge” event held by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON).

You cannot explain it!

Preparations are being made to create the grounds for accusations of a gang or terrorist organization, which has been tried many times before. Is it not possible for a criminal complaint to not be filed against a certain group of people if the prime minister of the country accuses them every day? There is now pressure on the judiciary

Gülen’s letter to Gül

Koru told Gülen to express his feelings in a letter. The scholar wrote this letter on Dec. 22. Koru took the letter to its addressee, the president. He met with the prime minister the same day in Ankara and told him about his impressions from his contact with Gülen. I mean to say, there is not “bargaining” or “mediation.” There is only a “goodwill initiative” here.

Why is Erdoğan hostile to Turkish schools?

The Hizmet movement has had considerable successes in the field of education. While its share in the Turkish education sector is not colossal, the quality of its services stands out.

PM Erdoğan’s arguments on prep schools contradict statistics, facts

PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a live TV interview on Wednesday night that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will not back down from its decision to close prep schools and listed his government’s arguments, many of which contradict official data, statistics and results of surveys carried out on the issue. According to surveys, 85 percent of the families who send their children to prep schools are low-income families.

Ottawa urged to expedite residency process for those fleeing oppression in Turkey

Human rights advocate Renée Vaugeois wrote a letter asking Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen to expedite the Edmonton man’s residency application. She thinks that this is a targeted war on a specific group of people in Turkey and to her that speaks to genocide.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Turkey: Post-coup prisoner says threatened with rape, beaten almost to death

Future’s continent and African renaissance

Journalists and Writers Foundation to hold peace conference at UN

No better gift for Nigerien orphans

GYV slams government attempt to silence critics with recent measures

Rumi Peace and Dialogue Awards given in Washington

Minister: Turkey confiscated $4 bln worth of Gülenist property

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News