Istanbul
CNN
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Turkey’s Crimson Crescent group has been criticized by lawmakers and residents after revelations that it offered tents to a charity as a substitute of donating them to individuals in pressing want after the large earthquake that claimed greater than 44,000 lives earlier this month.
Whereas individuals have been begging the federal government for shelters to sleep in in the course of the freezing climate within the quick aftermath of the quake, the Turkish Crimson Crescent offered 2,050 tents to the AHBAP charity group for 46 million Turkish liras (round $2.4 million {dollars}), each teams have stated.
AHBAP, a well known charity within the nation, stated it was determined to accumulate tents and couldn’t discover any to ship to individuals in want, so decided to buy from the Crimson Crescent, which is understood in Turkey as Kizilay.
“Our mates had a gathering with Kızılay Çadır ve Tekstil A.Ş, which is a subsidiary of Kızılay. We instantly signed the contract for the tents that we realized had 2,050 tents in hand, and the following morning we despatched 2,050 tents to the earthquake zone,” AHBAP wrote in a tweet.
“Because the earthquake affected 10 provinces and the destruction was at a rare stage, the prevailing shares of all tent producers in our nation couldn’t meet the grievances of our residents. The businesses we contacted at the moment didn’t have tents that we may ship to the earthquake zone that morning. They have been capable of make them inside per week on the earliest,” AHBAP added.
President of The Crimson Crescent, Kerem Kınık, informed CNN’s sister community CNN Turk Monday that he was not conscious of the sale, including that it was the choice of his workers to promote the tents. He stated if he was conscious of the scenario, he would have recommended giving them away.
Nonetheless, a day earlier, on Sunday, Kınık wrote in a tweet, “@Ahbap and @Crimson Crescent’s cooperation is ethical, rational, and authorized. Anybody who claims in any other case both doesn’t perceive the difficulty or is malicious.”
Haluk Levent, a singer who based AHBAP, wrote in a tweet Monday that his charity not solely purchased tents but in addition bought “30 thousand items of meals from Kızılay Lojistik A.Ş., which each would provide 3 meals for a household of 4 and doesn’t expire for a 12 months.”
“In complete, we bought 108 million Turkish Liras price of meals from 5 totally different suppliers. 14 million of this (round $742,000) we purchased from Kızılay Lojistik A.Ş.,” Levent additionally wrote.
Kınık additionally wrote on his Twitter account on Monday: “PUBLIC DISCLOSURE. The Crimson Crescent Society delivers the donations it receives to these in want, it actually does NOT promote it. The topic within the press is the actions of our corporations specialised within the discipline of humanitarian assist, which generates sustainable revenue for the Crimson Crescent.”
The revelations have attracted criticism in Turkey. Ahmet Davutoglu, who was previously prime minister beneath Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Get together, criticized the Crimson Crescent on Twitter, writing: “Crimson Crescent can’t promote tents whereas persons are desperately ready for tents on the road. These tents ought to have been delivered to the individuals of the area freed from cost. It’s referred to as ignorance, dropping your thoughts. Our nation and our noble nation don’t deserve this.”
Meral Akşener, the chief of Turkey’s opposition IYI Get together, added: “The Turkish Crimson Crescent was established with the understanding “to guard the dignity of individuals and society with the facility of goodness, to extend their resilience and to work to alleviate their struggling”; With the facility of cash, you could have condemned individuals to an understanding that leaves them alone and empties them. Disgrace on you!”
Within the aftermath of the earthquake, many individuals together with residents, journalists, and opposition occasion members accused the Turkish authorities not solely of failing to distribute tents and meals to earthquake areas but in addition criticized it for not having sufficient groups for operations to rescue the survivors.
Throughout a information convention on Monday, President Erdogan requested to be pardoned for delays in assist and rescue. “Because of the climate and street situations, we couldn’t perform the work we wished in Adıyaman for the primary few days, I ask your pardon for this. We’re conscious of every little thing, nobody ought to doubt that we’ll do what is critical,” he stated.
Final week, the Turkish authorities additionally introduced that it’s going to begin some rebuilding in quake zones amid criticism from engineers and designers. Turkey’s Surroundings, Urbanization, and Local weather Change minister Murat Kurum introduced that excavation has begun for 885 homes within the earthquake area.
Nonetheless, Turkey’s Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) warned about future issues that would come up from constructing homes in a hasty method.
Emin Koramaz, chairman of the TMMOB’s Board wrote in his column at BirGün, an impartial newspaper, that “each mission that might be carried out with out making new geological investigations, updating the bottom surveys, and making ready town plans in accordance with the earthquake after the earthquake means carrying the present earthquake danger to the longer term and placing individuals’s lives in danger.”
Some social media customers additionally criticized the constructing efforts, arguing that steady aftershocks within the area would harm the foundations of the brand new buildings.
President Erdogan, who faces a normal election within the coming months, has promised new houses for the individuals who have been affected by the earthquake and stated that they’ll be accomplished in a 12 months.
