Turkish Red Crescent under fire for selling earthquake tents: Report

ByNews Desk- The Cradle 

The Turkish government was also accused of failing to distribute sufficient tents, humanitarian aid and relief teams in several locations in the days following the earthquake

The Turkish Red Crescent is at the center of a controversy for having sold emergency tents to a private NGO that was sending equipment and material to survivors of the earthquake that shook the country three weeks ago, Turkish media reported on 27 February.

Over the weekend, the Cumhuriyet Daily revealed that three days after the deadly earthquake, which killed over 50,000 people in Syria and Turkiye, a textile company associated with Kizilay had sold 2,050 tents to the private association Ahbap for about 2.3 million dollars instead of donating them, noting that many opposition politicians are now calling for the resignation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan called those who attacked the Red Crescent “dishonest and vile.” Meanwhile, Kemal Klçdarolu, the head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), responded by accusing the Turkish president of “insulting the earthquake victims” in a tweet.

The news reignited the controversy over the shortage of tents for survivors, the alleged ineffectiveness of government organizations such as Kizilay or the national emergency agency (AFAD), and accusations that the government was hindering the aid of private associations such as Ahbap.

“This is a scandal,” said Murat Ağırel, the Cumhuriyet journalist who broke the story.

“Turkiye’s largest charity, the Red Crescent, sold tents instead of distributing them for free to those in need when people were begging for them three days after the earthquake,” he said.

However, both Ahbap’s President, Haluk Levent, and Kizilay’s President, Kerem Kinik, clarified that the sale of tents is part of normal procedures.

Levent told Halk TV that his association had purchased a total of 15,250 tents from various companies and that the 2,050 from Kizilay Tekstil are part of a non-logo batch intended for export.

Kerem Kinik stressed on Twitter that Kizilay is financed by revenues from its logistics companies, in addition to international donations and funds, without receiving public money, and that “cooperation with Ahbap is moral, reasonable and legal.”

He recalled that AFAD has already established 337,000 tents in the areas affected by this month’s earthquakes, partially provided by Kizilay, with another 100,000 still on the way and that for now, 1.35 million people are living in these camps.