Mehmet Yilmaz
18 March 2021•Update: 18 March 2021
WARSAW
Turkey has made a financial donation to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation in Poland.
Tunc Ugdul, the Turkish ambassador to Poland, presented the €30,000 ($36,000) contribution to Piotr Cywinski, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, according to a statement by Turkey's Embassy in Warsaw.
Turkey rescued a many Jews from the Holocaust during World War II, the statement said, adding that the country would continue its support and contributions to the foundation.
The UN General Assembly in 2005 declared Jan. 27 to be International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Auschwitz-Birkenau, the biggest Nazi concentration camp of World War II, was liberated on Jan. 27, 1945.
"International Holocaust Remembrance Day events have been held in our country since 2011, under the auspices of senior state officials," noted the embassy.
It added that with the cooperation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, Turkey's Directorate of Communications designed a website to raise awareness about the Holocaust.
"Turkey calls on all parties to provide all kinds of support for the long-term conservation and restoration of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Monument and Museum. This is the common responsibility of all humanity."
The statement stressed that the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum needed support amid financial problems due to the pandemic.
More than 1 million Jews were executed or died in the infamous concentration camp during the World War II.
*Writing by Gozde Bayar in Ankara
