The Turkish Red Crescent helped 37 million people last year and wants to further boost aid in 2021, according to the charity’s director.
Kerem Kinik told Anadolu Agency about the satisfaction of being able to fulfill the Red Crescent’s duties in 2020 with the help of volunteers and professional employees.
“But a similar burden awaits us in 2021,” he added.
In 2021, the group “will strengthen volunteer [projects], especially boosting the resilience of society, empowering the individual, preparing for disasters,” he said.
Kinik pointed to an online platform for volunteers, gonulluol.org, which was launched as part of a Turkish Red Crescent project.
“It is a solidarity platform where they [participants] will complete their development with training and will receive and contribute to many different projects of the agency,” he explained. “Our goal is to reach 2 million volunteers.”
Kinik’s remarks were made after he attended the opening of an exhibit to mark the Turkish Red Crescent’s more than 150 years of history as an aid agency.
History of Our Endless Solidarity: Red Crescent can be seen in Istanbul’s teeming Beyoglu district at the Tarik Zafer Tunaya Cultural Center from Jan. 14 to Feb. 27.
“This exhibit reflects our common historical background, not only national Turkish but as humanity,” Kinik said earlier. “You can see on our posters the global solidarity of mankind during big disasters.”
