Turkish Red Crescent Chief Steps Down After Tents Scandal

Date: 13 May 2023 - 23:10

News ID: ۱۱۴۹۹۰

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – The head of Turkey’s Red Crescent organization has stepped down, the state-run news agency reported, months after the aid agency came under intense criticism for selling tents to a charity instead of dispatching them directly to areas devastated by a powerful earthquake in February. Kerem Kinik’s resignation came a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the Red Crescent’s actions during a town hall meeting with young people while campaigning ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary and presidential elections. “I was seriously saddened by this issue,” Erdogan said in the campaign event. “The Red Crescent cannot engage in the sale of tents. He (Kinik) must rectify this wrong.”