Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kınık resigns

Two days before the elections, Kerem Kınık, the head of the Turkish Red Crescent, who was heavily criticized for the scandals following the February 6 earthquake, declared his resignation. Yesterday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a statement regarding the criticism of the Red Crescent, stating that the mistake made concerning the sale of tents should be corrected. Kerem Kınık removed the phrase “Red Crescent President” from his Twitter bio and replaced it with “Red Crescent volunteer”.

Weeks after the earthquake, Haluk Levent, a musician and head of the relief organization Ahbap, revealed that the Turkish Red Crescent sold 2050 tents to Ahbap on the third day after the earthquake. Ahbap had also bought canned food from the Turkish Red Crescent. The revelation of the sale of tents by the Turkish Red Crescent caused public unrest. Kinik had given a controversial response to the huge backlash.

In a Twitter post that was closed to replies, he claimed that they sold the tents to make new ones and use the money for other aid. He insisted that this way of working was legal and ethical. However, his statement intensified the debate on social media about institutional corruption. In this context, Kinik’s resignation shortly after Erdogan’s statement was remarkable, as he had been called to resign several times by the opposition in the aftermath of the earthquake.