KYM donates blankets and clothing to children in Gaza

Kimse Yok Mu Director of Foreign Aid Yusuf Yıldırım shows visitors from the West Bank the blankets the organization will distribute in the Palestinian territories.(Photo: Today's Zaman, Orhan Fırsat)
Kimse Yok Mu Director of Foreign Aid Yusuf Yıldırım shows visitors from the West Bank the blankets the organization will distribute in the Palestinian territories.(Photo: Today's Zaman, Orhan Fırsat)


Date posted: December 5, 2014

ORHAN FIRSAT / ISTANBUL

Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) has recently donated 20,000 blankets to the needy in Gaza, as well as clothing for 1,000 Palestinian children.

The charity, which has provided aid to Palestinians since 2006, recently donated 10,000 blankets. Another 10,000 were given to Palestinian representatives on Thursday after their arrival in İstanbul. With the winter months approaching, the charity saw the need to aid the thousands of Palestinians who have been living in difficult conditions due to the devastating events in the region.

Officials from the charity have said that this week alone, the blankets that they have given to Palestinian amount to TL 750,000 worth of aid.

According to the charity, it has provided 2,000 packages of food as well as blankets and clothing this week. The first 10,000 blankets have already been given to residents of the Gaza Strip, while the rest of the blankets were given to Palestinian officials in İstanbul on Thursday.

Wafa Hemeid, the wife of the mayor of the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank, the West Bank’s Social Policy Committee coordinator Najla Miqdad and businesswoman Laila Asfoura accepted the aid given by the charity with pleasure. “What really left a mark with me is that Kimse Yok Mu reacts so quickly. This really pleases us. We told the charity that the winter season is approaching and that people will begin to get cold. We also told them that we were in need of blankets and before we even came to İstanbul we learned that they had already sent aid to Gaza,” Miqdad told Today’s Zaman.

Kimse Yok Mu foreign aid coordinator Yusuf Yıldırım, who supervises the aid that goes to the Palestinian regions, told Today’s Zaman: “Right now our aid is continuing in Gaza. We received the request for help on Friday and on Monday we began to distribute the aid packages. The remaining 10,000 blankets will arrive in the West Bank in the cities of Hebron and Bethlehem, and public officials have come here to collect them. In total, TL 700,000-750,000 worth of aid has arrived in Palestine this week. We praise this and the aid to the area will continue.”

KYM under pressure

The reason that the charity is able to provide aid to those in unstable regions is due to the fact that government has lifted constraints that were imposed on the charity in October.

Kimse Yok Mu has been under pressure in recent months and has received threats from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. On Sept. 30, the charity — which is affiliated with the faith-based Hizmet movement — had its right to collect charitable donations abruptly rescinded by the Cabinet. The decision came into effect, according to the Twitter account of Kimse Yok Mu President İsmail Cingöz, just before Eid al-Adha, a time when many practicing Muslims make donations to charity.

Erdoğan has also made remarks to African countries, warning them against “threats” from “dangerous structures that look like nongovernmental organizations or education volunteers.” These comments were directed at the Hizmet movement, which follows the teachings of Islamic scholar Fetullah Gülen. In the wake of a major corruption scandal which erupted following police investigations last year, the government has waged a smear campaign against Hizmet, which it accuses of masterminding the corruption probes to bring down the goverment.

After much controversy and outrage at the removal of a charity’s ability to aid those in need, the 10th Chamber of the Council of State announced on Nov. 25 that the Cabinet’s decision in October that removed Kimse Yok Mu’s right to collect donations was against the law.

Çingöz said that the Council of State’s unanimous decision confirms the organization’s institutional transparency, accountability and reliability.

Source: Today's Zaman , December 04, 2014


Related News

‘Portraying Hizmet against settlement process groundless’

In an interview with the Zaman daily last week, GYV vice president Cemal Uşak categorically denied the aspersions that have been cast on the Hizmet movement on social media for a couple of years and in conventional media for the last three months that claim that the Hizmet movement has been against the settlement process.

A helping hand to orphan leader’s country Benin

Kimse Yok Mu Foundation (KYM) shared the Ramadan joy with the orphan in Benin, the country of the PM Yavi, who himself is an orphan as well. The foundation uplifted hundreds of orphans at the Ramadan event in the floating Beninese city Cotonou. The orphan children broke their fast with the food by KYM and enjoyed a day that they will always remember.

UN-DESA 53rd Commission for Social Development

Journalists and Writers Foundation, Albert Schweitzer Institute, and Peace Islands Institute held a panel discussion titled “Peaceful and Cohesive Societies for Social Development,” during the UN DESA 53rd Commission for Social Development.

Mosque, cemevi to be built in same complex

İLYAS KOÇ, ANKARA In an effort to strengthen the bonds between the Alevi and Sunni communities in Turkey, a mosque and a cemevi — an Alevi house of worship — will be built in the same complex in Ankara, the head of the Alevi CEM Foundation, Professor İzzettin Doğan, said on Saturday. The construction will […]

Would you buy me a pair of eyes on Valentine’s Day?

Kimse Yok Mu has launched four different donation campaigns along with alternative featured gift options for those looking for a meaningful gift on Valentine’s Day. According to Kimse Yok Mu press release, the charity foundation, which has a bright record of life-saving campaigns, expanded its scope including couples admirably wishing to give a unique and […]

Gülen and a new paradigm in the Kurdish issue

The Muslims, over the past nine years, have been the main dynamic of the change in Turkey. They have questioned their ties with nationalism, militarism and the status quo. These points that Gülen underlined are extremely important. He clearly and precisely identifies the reason of the problems and offers advice.

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

Turkish police detain 35 lawyers for ‘defending’ Gülen sympathizers

Mind-polluting leaks about Hizmet movement

Could assassination attempts be made against politicians?

Minister Yazici Visits Turkish Schools in Yemen

JWF organized a side-event at UN in Geneva

Samanyolu permission to shoot Ramadan program in mosque

Henri Barkey: Why Is Turkey Accusing Me of Plotting a Coup?

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News