Visit from Galatasaray to Disaster-Stricken Kahramanmaraş, Turkey

Galatasaray Sports Club President, Dursun Aydın Özbek, Second President, Metin Öztürk and members of the Board of Directors, visited Kahramanmaraş, the epicentre of the 6th February earthquake, a few months after the disaster took place.

President Dursun Aydın Özbek and the accompanying delegation first visited Kahramanmaraş bazaar and met with the earthquake victims.

Galatasaray’s management also visited the Governor of Kahramanmaraş, Ömer Faruk Coşkun, Mayor of Kahramanmaraş Metropolitan Municipality, Hayrettin Güngör and Mayor of Kahramanmaraş Onikişubat Municipality, Hanefi Mahçiçek in their offices and held talks about the works carried out.

President Dursun Aydın Özbek and members of the Board of Directors then visited the container city, which was established by the club and Nef Foundation with the slogan “This Support Will Never End”, where approximately 3 thousand people live.

Consisting of 600 containers, Galatasaray Sports Club, Nef Foundation AFAD Living Space and President Dursun Aydın Özbek chatted with the earthquake victims for a long time and distributed various gifts to the children.

The club president shared his feelings with Galatasaray Television after the visit.

“This Support Will Never End, Our Aid Activities Will Continue”

“I came here after the earthquake and especially saw the destruction here. I wish God’s mercy to all my brothers and sisters from Kahramanmaraş who lost their lives and a speedy recovery to the wounded. From the first day we arrived, we started to work in terms of the support we can give to Kahramanmaraş in this regard. Today, as a result of these efforts, we came to visit the Galatasaray container city that we prepared together with the Nef family. Life has started here. I would like to thank ultrAslan for their support in this matter. They have been our hands and feet here.[…] I would like to thank our donors for their great support. In order to heal these wounds, the whole Turkish nation should not lose their enthusiasm and the interest should not decrease. […] We should not leave the damage here to be solved only by our state. Non-Governmental Organisations and all Turkish people should continue to support this place as much as they can. We have opened the Galatasaray container city consisting of approximately 600 houses, but we are also working here for the needed permanent houses. […] When my great-grandfather came from Uzbekistan, he first settled in Kahramanmaraş. This place also has an emotional side for me. We also have relatives from the past here. We have fulfilled our promise to our brothers and sisters from Kahramanmaraş. I am happy about this. I come and chat with them from time to time to show them that we will heal the wounds of this disaster together. I try to give them moral support. As Galatasaray, we will do everything we can. […] This support will never end, our aid activities will continue.”
Dursun Aydın Özbek, Galatasaray Sports Club President