Nearly $300M raised for Turkey’s COVID-19 fight

ANKARA

More than 2 billion Turkish liras have been collected so far under Turkey’s National Solidarity Campaign to aid the fight against COVID-19, a government official said on Saturday.

Around 2.03 billion Turkish liras (nearly $300 million) have been raised through more than 6.4 million small donations via text messages, according to Zehra Zumrut Selcuk, Turkey's minister of family, labor, and social services.

The campaign was launched by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on March 30 to provide additional support to people suffering financially due to measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Selcuk said the government introduced economic and social support packages for citizens and the funds raised under the National Solidarity Campaign were used to provide additional assistance to those in need.

“I would like to thank every member of our generous nation who contributed and supported the campaign. I call for these acts of kindness and your support to continue until the end of the campaign,” she said.

* Writing by Seda Sevencan and Fahri Aksut