Over 115 billion Turkish Liras donated in joint broadcast

ISTANBUL

A donation of more than 115 billion Turkish Liras ($6.2 billion) has been collected in the joint broadcast of “Türkiye, One Heart” on nearly all TV channels.

Many people, from the country’s leading businessperson to the children who donated the money in their piggy banks, supported the campaign, which was broadcast on 213 TV and 562 radio channels in Türkiye and abroad.

The program, which started at 8 p.m. and was scheduled to end at 2 a.m., was extended due to the high demand of those calling for donations.

During the campaign, 115 billion 146 million 528 thousand liras were collected in donations made by phone connection.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who made the opening speech by connecting to the broadcast by phone, said, “We will overcome this with unity.”

“At the cabinet meeting, we collected 136 million liras [$7.2 million],” Erdoğan said.

Yıldırım Demirören, chairman of Demirören Holding, donated 50 million liras ($2.6 million) on behalf of his deceased father, Erdoğan Demirören.

The donations collected by well-known figures of the TV world will be donated to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) and the Turkish Red Crescent.