Split
Bad Nauheim (pm). The devastating earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border area brought unbelievable suffering to many millions of people. “We mourn the victims and sympathize with the families. Tens of thousands of survivors are injured or have lost their homes. They all urgently need help,” emphasize Sinan Sert, Chairman of the Advisory Council for Foreigners in Bad Nauheim, and Hedwig Rohde, Chairman of the non-profit association Intercultural Competence and Integration (IKI), in a joint press release.
Both institutions represent or support several hundred people with Turkish and Syrian nationality or origin and with biographical connections to the affected regions.
Demand: Open the border to Syria
“These people are now shocked and appalled. They want to help, but feel helpless,” Rohde makes clear. All the more so since the large aid organizations strongly advise private individuals not to spontaneously set off on their own, because this could be dangerous for them, but also because aid must be coordinated if it is to be effective. IKI and Foreigners’ Advisory Board initiate a fundraising campaign in the second-hand department store. »We set up a donation box in which we are happy to accept smaller donations. The money is then bundled and transferred to the joint donation account of the major aid organizations. We hope for active participation«, explains Hedwig Rohde.
The Advisory Council for Foreigners has initiated another action: a letter to the members of the Bundestag Natalie Pawlik (SPD) and Peter Heidt (FDP) with the request to support the opening of as many borders as possible to Syria, as intended by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. »The whole world shows solidarity and helps quickly and unconventionally. While Turkey is already getting humanitarian aid from various countries in the form of relief supplies and rescue workers, the situation of those affected in northern Syria remains explosive because only one border crossing is open between Turkey and Syria,” explains Sinan Sert. In order to allow humanitarian aid to flow unhindered to Syria and to be able to help the people in the north Syrian earthquake area as quickly as possible, the immediate opening of further border crossings is urgently needed. Associations and private individuals who, like IKI e. V. would like to take part in this campaign, please contact Sinan Sert (e-mail to [email protected]) for further information.