Norway's Bosnian Muslims mobilize to support quake-hit Türkiye

By Muhammet Ikbal Arslan

GENEVA (AA) – Norway's Bosnian Muslims have mobilized support to quake-hit Türkiye.

Representatives of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Islam Community in Oslo, Faruk Terzic told Anadolu that they launched a help campaign across Norway for the quake victims in Türkiye and Syria.

Terzic said the community has 9,000 members, adding that they have been living in Norway since the 1990s.

After the earthquakes that he described as "disaster," Terzic said the community held a meeting and came up with the idea of starting a monetary aid campaign.

The community opened a bank account and mobilized the officials from the Turkish Embassy to Oslo, the Turkish organizations and mosques.

"We collected around 500,000 Norwegian krone ($48,650) in a week," Terzic said.

"The money has been transferred to Sarajevo, and will be sent to the quake-hit populations in Türkiye and Syria," he added.

Terzic ensured that his community will do its best to continue the help efforts.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centered in Kahramanmaras on Feb. 6 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 tremors that struck in less than 10 hours.

More than 41,000 people were killed by the twin earthquakes in Türkiye, according to the latest official figures. Thousands of others were injured.

Türkiye issued a level-4 alert, calling in international aid.

* Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara