Unknown to many Filipinos, a Turkish aid organization was among the first to respond to the devastation caused by Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in Eastern Visayas last year. Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) was one of the first international groups to send relief teams to Tacloban City, ground zero for the most powerful storm ever to hit land.
A protocol signed between the Arbil Governorate and the aid organization in November, the school, which has 12 classrooms and 1,000 square meters of space, was built in the region of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for refugees who fled Syria. The school will be administered under the Arbil Governorate, according to information obtained from the Ankara office of Kimse Yok Mu.
Despite the latest step in a government crackdown on Turkey’s UN-affiliated aid organization, Kimse Yok Mu, in which two banks blocked the organization’s accounts, administrators for the charity have said they are still able to collect money through their other accounts.
It seems that US President Barack Obama and the rest of the world have not taken the Turkish president seriously on this matter. The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), the Swiss Dialogue Institute and the University of Geneva jointly organized a peace summit titled “Mobilizing Civil Society for Building Peace” at the UN Center in Geneva. The event attracted a great deal of attention, as evidenced by the participation of renowned individuals, including Hassan al-Benna’s grandson Tariq Ramadan; Ela Gandhi, the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, whose statue stands in the garden of the UN Center; and Gunnar Johan Stalsett, from the Norwegian Nobel Committee. A total of 800 renowned figures from 50 countries participated in this gathering.
Humanity continues to face problems ranging from hunger and poverty to armed conflicts and all forms of discrimination, but these realities should not lead us to a sense of despair, apathy and hopelessness since a growing number of individuals, families, communities, institutions and civil society organizations as well as government sectors and intergovernmental agencies are slowly and patiently planting the seeds and nurturing the seedlings for the building of a more peaceful world, a world with much less suffering, conflicts and destruction.
Thousands of orphans and needy people around the world whose lives depend on the aid they receive from charities such as Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There?), the largest volunteer and global aid organization based in Turkey, are at risk of being affected by the Turkish government’s restrictions on the charitable association.
At a United Nations conference organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) on Friday in Geneva, a wide range of participants agreed that global challenges against peace should not lead to apathy, while reiterating their commitment against all kinds of extremism.
Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has sent a message of condolence to the families of the victims of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist organization in Iraq and he has condemned ISIL’s violence. Gülen’s statement, which addressed Kurdish, Turkmen, Arab, Yazidi, Shiite and Sunni families in Iraq, was published in the leading newspapers of Iraq’s Kurdish region such as Rudaw, Hawlati, Basnews, Kürdistany Nwe, Xebat and Çawder.
The first peace conference, titled “Mobilizing Civil Society for Building Peace,” will be held at the United Nations Center in Geneva with the participation of keynote speakers such as peace activist Ela Gandhi, the granddaughter of iconic activist Mahatma Gandhi, German Ambassador Dr. Heinrich Kreft and political affairs officer at the UN Andres Smith Serrano, as well as GYV President Mustafa Yeşil.