The Turkish Red Crescent () is the

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

affiliate of the International Red Crescent and the first worldwide adopter of the

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

symbol for humanitarian aid. Being the largest humanitarian foundation in Turkey, its roots goes back to the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

from 1853 to 1856 and the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

from 1876 to 1878, where disease overshadowed battle as the main cause of death and suffering among

soldiers. Operating to this day as a not-for-profit volunteer-based social service, it is considered one of the most important charity organizations in the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

world.

History

The organization was founded under the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

on 11 June 1868 and was named "Hilâl-i Ahmer Cemiyeti" (Society of the Crimson Crescent), or in French the "Croissant-Rouge Ottomane" (Ottoman Red Crescent). It later took on the names: * "Ottoman Red Crescent Society" in 1877 * "Turkey’s Red Crescent Community" in 1923 * "Turkish Red Crescent Community" in 1935 * "Turkish Red Crescent Society" in 1947 It was renamed Kızılay by

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

in 1935, after the foundation of the Republic of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in 1923. Beginning with the

Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) The Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition led by the Russian Empire which included United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, Romania, Principality of Serbia, Serbia, and Principality of ...

, the Turkish Red Crescent Society has provided medical relief to soldiers in all battlefields in which Turkey was present, through mobile and fixed hospitals, patient transportation services, hospital vessels, trained nurses and volunteers. It has provided humanitarian care regardless of nationality to all civilians affected by war. It has been involved in disaster relief and aid in natural disasters in Turkey. It has participated in international relief and response activities. A Turkish Red Crescent Staff

Examples of disaster relief activities include: *

2003 Bam earthquake An earthquake struck the Kerman province of southeastern Iran at 01:56 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC (5:26 am Iran Standard Time) on December 26, 2003. The shock had a moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 6.6 and a maximum Mer ...

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the sci ...

2005 Kashmir earthquake An earthquake occurred at on 8 October 2005 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, a territory under Pakistan. Its epicenter was 19 km northeast of the city of Muzaffarabad, and 90 km north north-east of Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, ...

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

* Syrian Civil War *

2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

Activities

Disaster management Emergency management (also Disaster management) is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actua ...

: Operations in 78 countries in natural and human related disasters in the last 10 years *

Blood donation A 'blood donation'' occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). A donation may be of wh ...

s provided through 17 Regional Blood Centers, 65 Blood Donation Centers with more than 150 mobile blood donation vehicles Kinik, the head of the Turkish Red Crescent, said "Nearly 2.4 million people have donated blood to the Red Crescent in 2017, and there were 274,000 stem cell donations." *

International aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Th ...

Health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

: Hospitals in

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

Kayseri Kayseri () is a large List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. Historically known as Caesarea (Mazaca), Caesarea, it has been the historical capital of Cappadocia since anc ...

and medical centers throughout

First aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with a medical emergency, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery until medical services arrive. First aid is gener ...

: 33 First aid centers throughout

providing healthcare and first aid instruction. First aid training provided to a total of 100,000 people *

Immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

and

Refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

Services: Assists the relevant public authorities in meeting the needs of refugees in Turkey, including shelter, health, and education. Runs 23 camps for the Refugees of the Syrian Civil War * Youth & Educational Services: Projects aimed at youth to increase community awareness regarding disasters. Provides scholarships and runs youth camps *

Nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

s: During and after the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons the Turkish Red Crescent was an advocate, urging states to eliminate nuclear weapons * Operations overseas: The Turkish Red Crescent now has permanent representatives in Somalia, Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Yemen in order to lend a helping hand to the vulnerable people of those war- torn countries.

Partnerships

Partnership with Qatar Charity

The Turkish Red Crescent has recently begun to partner with Qatar Charity (QC) on various humanitarian projects. In December 2016, the Turkish Red Crescent together with QC made a $10 million deal with the Turkish government to provide services for Syrian refugees in Turkey over the next five years. Kerem Kinik, head of the organization added "We have common areas of interest such as

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

... this collaboration is just a beginning". In June 2016, the organization and QC provided aid to victims of flooding and violence in

Beledweyne Beledweyne (, ) is a city in central Somalia. Beledweyne District is the capital city of the Hiran region. The city is situated in the Shebelle Valley riverine near the Ethiopian border, 210 miles (345 km) north of Mogadishu. Beledweyne ...

, Somalia. Somalia has lost much of its rural areas to al-Shabaab, a terrorist organization with links to

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

that consistently carries out attacks throughout the country.

Partnership with Turkish government

Following the

2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt In the evening of 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted ...

, the Turkish Red Crescent backed the Turkish government, sending a letter to hundreds of international aid organizations and NGOs, including to organizations of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and Red Crescents in 191 total countries. Like the government, the Turkish Red Crescent blamed the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement () or Hizmet movement () is an Islamist fraternal movement. It is a sub-sect of Sunni Islam based on a Nursian theological perspective as reflected in Fethullah Gülen's religious teachings. It is referred to by its membe ...

(which the government of Turkey considers a terrorist organization) for the coup attempt.

Global gathering

In November 6–11, 2017, the International Red Cross and the Turkish Red Crescent movement brought together 190 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. Some major issues they discussed were: migration where they addressed prioritizing safety and assistance, nuclear weapons where they were working towards their elimination, and health where they addressed mental health and psycho social needs. Other issues included the need to involve affected people in relief and recovery efforts; the use of explosive weapons in popular areas; and the looming threat of epidemics and pandemics.

Gallery

File:21 nisan 2012 gazipaşa gezisi 074.JPG, A Bloodmobile of Turkish Red Crescent in

Gazipaşa Gazipaşa () is a municipality and district of Antalya Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,111 km2, and its population is 53,702 (2022). It is situated on the Mediterranean coast, 180 km east of the city of Antalya. Gazipaşa is a quiet ru ...

File:Türk Kızılayı ambulansı.JPG, 1938 Ford Model 81C ambulance in Turkey Türk Kızılay Mobile Child Friendly Space.jpg, A view of Mobile Child Friendly Space operated by the Turkish Red Crescent Türk Kızılay Kilis Toplum Merkezi.jpg, A view of Kilis

Community Centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

operated by the Turkish Red Crescent

References

External links

Turkish Red Crescent official website
* {{Authority control Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies Organizations established in 1868 Organizations based in Ankara 1868 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Medical and health organizations based in Turkey Emergency medical services in Turkey