Turkish community in Halifax cooperates to help earthquake victims

Fundraisers at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market this weekend hope to raise at least $12,000 to help Turkish victims of the earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6.

The death toll from the earthquake has already exceeded 45,000 with more and more millions injured and homeless.

The Bakery and Arts Gala Saturday and Sunday was organized by the Nova Scotia Turkish Society.

A Turkish woman, Akilya Erten, was visiting her daughter, who is a student in Halifax, when the earthquake struck.

Porco Captan is the President of the Turkish Society of Nova Scotia. (Paul Legere/CBC)

“I think I was crying a lot and it was really bad,” she said at the auction on Saturday. “You wonder, where are they? How are they?”

When members heard about the earthquake their first inclination was to help, said Porco Captan, president of the 1,000-member assembly of Atlantic Canada.

She said the weekend sale was organized to raise awareness and collect donations to be sent to organizations on the ground in Turkey.

She said the Red Cross would match donations made to the association for earthquake relief.

Kaptan said their initial goal was to raise $5,000 but that was quickly achieved.

Although regional sweets and savory goods were the main items for sale over the weekend, Captan said there are plans to host other fundraising events, including an art auction.

Turkish national Akilya Erten was visiting her daughter in Halifax when the earthquake struck. (Paul Legere/CBC)

Erton said the worst thing for her was not being there to help. She said she was grateful to all the people who attended the fundraiser and donated.

“Even though I’m not there, I know the donations will be in the right place,” she said.

Tolgar Ilhan, an international student from Turkey, said his family’s home in Mersin, Turkey, shook, but there was no damage.

Tolgar Ilhan is a Turkish student studying in Halifax. (Paul Legere/CBC)

Ilhan said that his uncle’s family in Kahramanmaraş, which is close to the epicenter, lost their home and cars.

He explained that the injured were transferred from other regions to the University Hospital in Mersin, where his father works as a doctor.

“My father talks about the fact that there is no place to shelter more injured people because the hospitals are full,” Elhan said.

Kaptan said that everyone in the global Turkish community was affected by the disaster whether they lost loved ones or not. Knowing that millions of people became homeless also had a profound psychological impact on society, she said.

She said the broader Canadian community has offered support, including psychologists providing counseling.

“Having that together and help together really is the best healing process,” she said.

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