One week ahead of a Muslim festival when the poor will receive aid, Turkish non-profit organizations have begun to mobilize to deliver humanitarian aid to disadvantaged communities around the globe. From the Turkish Red Crescent to prominent international charity Humanitarian Aid Organization (İHH), charities will deliver meat and other humanitarian aid during Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, when livestock are slaughtered.
Charities give priority to the slaughter of animals - sheep, cows, camels and other ungulates - whose meat will be delivered to poor families. They also set up slaughterhouses and humanitarian aid distribution points in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
The Red Crescent mobilizes people to donate cash to the charity to purchase animals to slaughter and donate to the poor in other countries. The İHH will reach out to about 2 million people in need in 106 countries. The Sadakataşı charity will conduct a humanitarian aid campaign in 27 countries spanning from the Balkans to Central Asia.
The İyilikder charity pursues a different aid campaign by donating goats to poor farmers to raise for milk. Red Crescent President Dr. Kerem Kınık says that the Turkish nation expressed "huge interest" in their campaign which aims to secure 100,000 individual donations at least for aid in 31 countries. The charity also has the meat of some donated animals dried and canned for a yearlong campaign to deliver aid to the needy.
