The head of the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) said Tuesday that the humanitarian organization plans to distribute sacrificial meat in Türkiye, Gaza and 30 other countries this year as part of its annual Eid al-Adha donation campaign.
Speaking during a visit to a meat processing facility in the western city of Izmir, Turkish Red Crescent President Fatma Meriç Yılmaz outlined details of the organization’s proxy sacrifice campaign launched under the slogan "If You Want to Keep the Blessings of Sacrifice Alive Throughout the Year, Let the Crescent Be Türkiye.”
Yılmaz said the organization’s canned meat production system allows donated sacrificial meat to be preserved and delivered year-round to people in need across Türkiye and conflict-hit regions, including Gaza.
"In our model, canned meat production plays a very important role,” Yılmaz noted. "When we cook and can the meat, we can extend its shelf life up to three years.”
According to Kızılay, the campaign follows a six-stage process that includes authorization, donor notification, slaughtering, canning, distribution and post-slaughter reporting.
Yılmaz reiterated that donors can authorize the organization through its website, mobile applications or local branches, adding that payments can be made in installments.
The organization plans to carry out slaughter operations this year in five Turkish cities, including Diyarbakır, Van, Kayseri, Konya and Ankara.
Yılmaz also emphasized the importance of maintaining aid deliveries to Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain severe amid continuing restrictions and shortages.
"Gaza is a geography tested not only by war but also by hunger,” she said. "Protein sources such as meat are critically important there.”
She said the Turkish Red Crescent would continue using its canned meat distribution model for Gaza due to ongoing difficulties in access to the territory. Over the past two years, the organization has delivered 1.3 million canned meat products to Gaza, she added.
"These canned products became perhaps the fastest protein source to enter Gaza after the three-and-a-half-month closure,” Yılmaz said.
The Turkish Red Crescent set this year’s Gaza sacrifice donation price at TL 17,250 (approximately $380), while the international donation price for operations mainly in African countries was announced as TL 6,350 ($140).