Turkish Red Crescent opens Endless Solidarity exhibit

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Turkish Red Crescent opened an exhibition to mark more than 150 years of history as an aid agency in Turkey’s largest city Thursday.

History of Our Endless Solidarity: Red Crescent can be seen in Istanbul’s teeming Beyoglu district at the Tarik Zafer Tunaya Cultural Center from Jan. 14 - Feb 27.

The head of the aid agency, Kerem Kinik, told Anadolu Agency the exhibition features rich themes, including blood donation, disaster preparedness, emergency medical response, education training, posters, booklets stamps and other objects.

“This exhibition is reflecting our common historical background, not only Turkish national but as mankind,” said Kinik. “You can see on our posters the global solidarity of mankind during the big size disasters.”

Some of the exhibits have valuable objects such as flags, kitchen items during WWI and other wars as well as during the Caucasus or Balkan exile. “So you can see very emotional, touching items. You can feel the spirit of our ancestors, our founding fathers-mothers in this exhibition,” he said.

Organized in cooperation with the Turkish Culture Ministry, it displays documents and material as well as prominent items from Turkish collector Haluk Perk’s collection that tells of the Turkish aid agency’s 153-year-old journey through history.

It was curated by art director Mehmet Lutfi Sen who said art lovers will walk through the chronological history of the Red Crescent.

The exhibition also features a magnificent Red Crescent movie that tells the story of the Red Crescent. “I think it will be very good for us to meet with art following the pandemic conditions,” Sen said of the display that will be conducted under coronavirus restrictions.

Deputy Minister for Culture and Tourism Ozgul Ozkan Yavuz and prominent Turkish artist Husamettin Kocan were also at the ceremony.

The works of prominent Turkish artists such as Husamettin Kocan, Ergin Inan, Bahri Genc, Gunseli Kato, Devrim Erbil, and Tomur Atagok from the Hilal-i Ahmer Collection, a project by the agency to raise awareness on art and humanitarian aid are also featured.

Established in 1868, the Turkish Red Crescent explains its mission as “Providing aid for needy and defenseless people in disasters and usual periods as a proactive organization, developing cooperation in the society, providing safe blood and decreasing vulnerability,” according to its website.