Nearly 3,000 heaters to be sent from Serbia to Türkiye for quake victims: Turkish envoy

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Nearly 3,000 fan heaters and many other types of aid will be sent from Serbia to Türkiye for quake victims, Turkish Ambassador Hami Aksoy said Tuesday.

Aksoy told Anadolu at an aid collection center that there is great interest from Serbian citizens in providing aid and donations.

"Humanitarian aid almost started pouring into our warehouse. A businessman donated 2,724 fan heaters for the quake victims. We immediately received it and sent the first batch to Gaziantep with Turkish Airlines Cargo on Monday night, and the rest will be sent to Gaziantep today,” he said.

Aksoy said that everyone at the aid collection center is working with great devotion.

''There are many volunteers, friends, students from both our citizens and Serbians. The first batch of aid was sent to Adana with Turkish Airlines Cargo on Feb. 10. This cargo included approximately one ton of humanitarian aid materials consisting of food, blankets, sleeping bags, clothing and hygiene items,'' he said.

Aksoy said a Serbian citizen’s recent visit to Türkiye's Gaziantep province was an emotional story for him.

"A Serbian citizen recently came from Gaziantep with winter boots for children to sell them in Serbia. But after the earthquakes, he brought all those boots to us and donated them to the children of Gaziantep who suffered from the earthquakes. We had tears in our eyes after such a donation. Our charity activities here are in great solidarity.''

He added that a new truckload worth of aid will take off on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Türkiye's Consulate General in the Serbian city of Novi Pazar has collected a huge amount of donations filling up to 14 trucks so far.

The Novi Pazar Cultural Center launched a campaign with the theme "Support from Artists for Türkiye and Syria.''

Thirty-four artists have applied so far, and they expressed their solidarity with the Turkish people.

In addition, 70-year-old Fadil Kamesnicanin is tirelessly participating in relief efforts despite his age.

- Fundraising in Novi Sad

In Serbia's second largest city, Novi Sad, another campaign has been launched for the quake victims.

Magdalena Jevdic, a graduate student at Akdeniz University, said she launched the campaign with a focus on contributing in some way to “my own people.”

''Because I really feel like I'm part of those people,'' she said.

Jevdic said the people of Novi Sad have focused on important needs such as tents, heaters, mattresses and light bulbs.

- North Macedonia

In North Macedonia, two aid trucks carrying materials set off from the capital Skopje.

Around 25 tons of food and hygiene items as well as 4,000 blankets have been loaded on two trucks to be delivered to the Turkish Red Crescent.

- Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnian Serb politician and president of the Republika Srpska entity Milorad Dodik signed the condolence book opened Tuesday morning at the Turkish Consulate in Banja Luka.

Dodik said he is deeply saddened by what happened.

The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina sent two tons of tents and sleeping bags to Türkiye.

At least 35,418 people were killed by two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 tremors last week were centered in Kahramanmaras and struck nine other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, 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.