IHH Çorum Branch volunteers in cooperation with Independent Businessmen Organization (MÜSİAD) Çorum office collected 100 tons of food and sent it off to Syria with aid trucks bearing the names of four people who were killed during the raid of Mavi Marmara Flotilla.
The representative of IHH Çorum Branch volunteers, Selim Özkabakçı delivered a speech in front of the foundation’s office before the aid-trucks hit the road. He said that they have sent off 15 humanitarian aid-trucks so far and all of it was delivered to the oppressed people in the inlands of Syria.
As IHH Çorum branch, since the outbreak of war they have been delivering aid from charitable locals of Çorum to the Syrians. He said: "Sometimes we cross the border to supervise the aid delivery in person. As IHH Çorum branch we managed to deliver 11 truck load of humanitarian aid. With the four trucks that will start off in a short while this number will reach 15. Our goal is to send off 9 aid trucks in 2014. Because it is the number of our friends killed in Mavi Marmara Flotilla. These four will go with the names of Furkan Doğan, Cevdet Kılıçlar, Necdet Yıldırım and Fahri Yaldız. Hopefully in the following days we will send off trucks to Syria bearing the names of other martyr in the Mavi Marmara.”
Özkabakçı underlined that the aid was collected in cooperation with the members of MÜSİAD Çorum office.
"The trucks are carrying 50 tons of pasta and 50 tons of flour. IHH Reyhanli office will assist two trucks and IHH Kilis Office will assist the other two in reaching inlands of Syria."
He also gave the good news that IHH Çorum Branch will open in its new offices soon. He ended his speech by saying:
“We would like to start running our new office for our volunteers before 31st May which is the anniversary of the raid on Mavi Marmara. Our office will enable male and female volunteers in a more comfortable environment. It is a 500 square metre office. We will have separate areas for ladies and men so they can work more freely. We want to create a working environment which is peaceful and comfortable at the same time because that what is befitting for IHH. We will also have a seminar room with 100 person capacity. We will have guest speakers and experts delivering lectures on their fields. We will also have Furkan Doğan reading room.
We will have our young volunteers from among the youth of Çorum. We will have table tennis and chess activities and run reading clubs. We are planning activities for the students at the University of Hittites as well as those at high school. Hopefully we will make better and bigger organizations in the future. I would like to thank all our friends who gave support to the establishment of our new offices for IHH volunteers.”
Following Özkabakçı's speech the trucks carrying humanitarian aid hit the road with the well wishes of the people who have gathered.
