Cafes, shops in Edinburgh put competition aside to help quake victims in Türkiye

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Shops and cafes in the Scottish capital have put competition aside to help their Turkish competitors’ fundraising campaign for quake-hit victims in Türkiye.

These business establishments in central Edinburgh are in full solidarity with the people of Türkiye following the devastating earthquakes and are also helping to spread the word about the campaign.

Murat Oztas, the owner of a cafe in Edinburgh for nearly 10 years, launched a fundraising campaign and also publicized it among many shops in the city through leaflets.

Saying he has been making efforts to help victims since the earthquakes first struck, Oztas noted that many shop owners near his cafe are helping him in this regard.

He launched a campaign to donate all of his single-day earnings, including tips. He also announced the campaign through leaflets at neighboring shops, including his competitors.

"I have collected money from people around me to support (quake) victims. I sent it to certain places. But after seeing that the scale of the earthquakes was too large...I started such a campaign because I thought that there is much more needed," he added.

He said most of those fellow shopkeepers, who are Albanian, Italian and Spanish as well as Scottish, have joined the campaign and allowed him to display the announcement of the donation campaign on their shop windows.

"The Scottish people are incredibly supportive. In fact, this morning, I saw on my CCTV that some people stopped by and bought nothing but donated to my fund box," added Oztas.

He said that some of his staff and very close friends have lost their relatives due to the disaster.

"We will continue to support the victims as much as we can," said Oztas, mentioning that his university student daughter also launched a petition campaign for the quake victims.

He went on to say that even the post office also allows him to display his leaflets on their windows, which is normally forbidden.

"A post office official said he could take that risk for this situation," he added.

- 'Solidarity, good efforts for victims'

Meanwhile, Oztas said his brother is currently taking part in relief efforts in the quake-hit areas in southern Türkiye.

"I was incredibly, seriously shaken. I am someone who has seen the 1999 İzmit earthquake, so my life has changed since that day. It was a very bad experience. We survived it, how bad it could be," he said, wishing mercy on those who lost their lives and a speedy recovery to the injured.

Speaking to Anadolu, Alex, a cafe owner near Oztas, is one of those helping with the fundraising campaign.

"We're trying to do as much charity work as we can in the shop," he said, adding there has been solidarity and good efforts by everyone since last Monday.

Alex said there is somewhat friendly competition between him and Oztas as both help each other when needed.

"If anyone comes to me and asks for a fried breakfast, I send them to Murat. If anyone comes to Murat and asks for like special coffees, he sends them to me. He always says invest in your neighbors.

Alex is not only helping Oztas to spread his campaign but also donated his single-day tips to earthquake victims.

At least 38,044 people were killed by two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, the country's disaster agency said early Friday.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centered in Kahramanmaras and struck 10 other provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Kilis, Osmaniye, Elazig and Sanliurfa. More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of less than 10 hours.