I am shocked and deeply saddened by the outbreak of violence on the Gaza border, which resulted in the death of more than 50 and injury of thousands more. I urge Israel to stop shooting at civilians and to respect the right to peaceful protest.
İsmail Cingöz, president of the Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu, has said that the İstanbul Provincial Directorate of Associations and the İstanbul Governor’s Office have rejected 12 proposals for aid campaigns Kimse Yok Mu was planning to conduct in Palestine over the past year.
Kimse Yok Mu Foundation has provided 11,248,000 Turkish Lira worth assistance to Palestinians to date. Over 3/4 of this amount has been given away in the form of food. With the launch of the local chapter in 2013, our foundation has increased its efforts in the region. Total amount in 2014 alone reached over 3 million Turkish Lira.
Kimse Yok Mu deputy chair and director for Ankara chapter Ibrahim Cicek noted the foundation has spent nearly 3.5 million TL on its Palestine donations over the past year. “We are probably the sole Turkish NGO with a chapter in Palestine.”
Harun Tokak, the Jerusalem office director of Turkish aid organization Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anyone There), said on Monday on a TV program that the charity was not allowed to bring a Palestinian woman to Turkey for medical treatment due to complicated visa requirements imposed on Palestinians by the Turkish government.
The Turkish aid organization Kimse Yok Mu, which has become the latest target of the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) witch hunt, delivered aid in Palestine, including in Gaza, with approximately 100 volunteers from Turkey over the weekend.
Despite the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government’s removal of Turkish aid organization Kimse Yok Mu’s right to raise money without permission from the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the UN-affiliated aid association is getting ready to deliver meat to 12,000 poor households in Palestine.
Since the start of the offensive, the Kimse Yok Mu foundation has worked to bring in much-needed aid and assistance, and it is still a point of hope for many of those whose lives were shaken by the conflict. The organization has so far helped bring food, supplies and medicine to local hospitals, and it has recently provided around $500,000 in aid.
Diplomatic sources confirmed that an official from the Turkish Red Crescent went to Israel to coordinate humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza. “There is no other way to provide aid to Gaza,” said the sources on Thursday. Dismissing claims that the Turkish official will be negotiating a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza, sources said Turkey is only in contact with the officials from Hamas and the US regarding the Palestinian territory.
Kimse Yok Mu, one the most active charity organizations inside Gaza delivers food, water and other necessary provisions to thousands of war weary Gazans. Underscoring the vital importance of food and healthcare supplies these days in the blocked strip, Gaza representative of Kimse Yok Mu Nasser al-Sadi stated that aids coming from Turkey are lifesaving.