Turkish citizens donate nearly 553 million liras to presidency’s COVID-19 fundraiser

Duvar English

Some 552,529,912 Turkish Liras (about $83 million) were donated to the COVID-19 relief fundraiser that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched on March 30, the communications director of the Turkish presidency Fahrettin Altun said on April 1. 

Erdoğan launches donation campaign to assist citizens in need amid virus outbreak

President Erdoğan launched a campaign entitled “We suffice to each other, Turkey” to collect funds to provide relief to the Covid-19 outbreak in the country that has killed 277 people and infected thousands as of April 1. 

“We share all information regarding our campaign at bizbizeyeteriz.gov.tr and maintain a transparent communication policy,” Altun said in a Tweet on April 1. 

Cumhurbaşkanımızın “Biz Bize Yeteriz Türkiyem“ çağrısıyla başlattığı milli dayanışma kampanyamızda şimdiye kadar 552.529.912₺ toplandı.

Kampanyamızla ilgili tüm bilgileri https://t.co/zKNezqHJx1 sitesi aracılığıyla milletimize sunuyor, şeffaf iletişim politikamızı sürdürüyoruz.

— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) April 1, 2020

The website noted that almost two million, 1,830,079 texts were sent to the fundraiser as donations as of April 1. 

According to the fundraiser’s official website, Turkey’s public bank Ziraat Finance Group lead the largest donations list with a donation of 62,300,000 liras (about $9 million).

Turkey’s state-run Halkbank pleads not guilty to US criminal charges

Second was the public bank Halkbank with a donation of 56,000,000 liras (about $8.5 million). Halkbank is currently on trial in the United States on charges including conspiracy, bank fraud, and money laundering. 

The third largest donation came from the public bank Vakifbank with a check of 50,000,000 liras (about $7.5 million).