Head of Turkish Red Crescent meets Pope Francis

By Meryem Goktas

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kinik met with Pope Francis at the Vatican and said on Saturday the meeting was significant in a period were humanitarian calls need to be stronger.

Pope Francis received 6,000 volunteers of the Italian Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) delegation, including Kerem Kinik and the IFRC President Francesco Rocca at the Vatican Saturday.

In a written statement by the Turkish Red Crescent, Kinik said the meeting with Pope Francis was “highly important” in times of increasing polarization in the world, were people and civilizations are loosing trust to each other and regional problems are not solved.

Kinik who is also the vice president responsible for the European region of IFRC stated that the meeting also played an "highly important" role in a period were humanitarian calls must be made more strongly.

He presented the Pope with a 'Civilization Clock' from the Ottoman period which symbolizes 'the Truth, Unity, Knowledge, Enlightenment, Intelligence, Wisdom, Humanity, Action, Justice, Morality, Civilization, and Piece'.

“Even if Allah`s most precious creature, the human being, comes to the world in other geographies with other names, life is always based on values. The values of our geography and our land are as embroidered on this clock,” Kinik said as he presented the gift to the Pope.

The Pope thanked all members of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement for their great efforts in the humanitarian area.

“The hands who are trying to find solutions to poverty, problems and migration-based problems in the world should be stronger,” Pope Francis said.