Prisoners in UK raise funds for victims of Türkiye earthquakes

By Zuhal Demirci

LONDON (AA) — Inmates near the British city of Manchester held a charity campaign on Saturday to support residents of southern Türkiye, a region hit by massive earthquakes in February.

Donations collected by prisoners at Dovegate jail for the benefit of earthquake victims, was delivered to the Turkish Consulate General in Manchester.

Consul-General Seyfi Onur Sayin told Anadolu that prison officials informed the consulate of their desire to launch the campaign.

"We thanked them and accepted the offer," Sayin said, underlining that the prisoners donating their pocket money had "a special value."

Visiting the prison after the donations were collected, he said: "We had the opportunity to thank the prisoners and administrators who organized the campaign, and we received the check."

Sayin said the check was already deposited to the Turkish disaster management agency AFAD's account.

"This aid is a good example of the solidarity displayed by the people and institutions of the two countries in difficult times," he added.

On Feb. 6, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck numerous Turkish provinces, taking over 50,000 lives.

Around 14 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the quakes as well as many others in northern Syria.