Feast Turns to Fund-Raiser for Victims of Turkish Quake

A local Turkish-American group is collecting donations of money and supplies to aid the victims of the earthquakes that struck Erzincan in eastern Turkey last weekend.

The Southern California American Turkish Assn. has already raised more than $2,000, the bulk of it by turning what was to be a traditional Ramadan feast Saturday for local members into an earthquake fund-raiser.

The money will be given to the Turkish Red Cross Relief Agency, which will distribute it in Turkey, said Kenan Alpan, a spokesman for the association.

Two major earthquakes hit Turkey over the weekend leaving as many as 800 people dead and 180,000 homeless in the region, officials said. Friday’s quake registered 6.8 on the Richter scale and another 6.0 tremor hit Erzincan Sunday. Officials say they have no idea how many more hundred people lie under 2,000 buildings that have been damaged or destroyed in Erzincan and surrounding villages.

News of the earthquake caused members of the local Turkish-American group on Saturday to spontaneously turn the dinner at the Edison Community Center in Huntington Beach into a fund-raiser for disaster relief.

While attendees feasted on baked chicken, rice, potato and lokma --a Turkish dessert similar to a doughnut that is dipped in syrup--organizers solicited donations from about 150 guests.

Some members were anxious to hear how relatives in Turkey had fared during the quake, but news was sparse from the stricken areas. Typical was the case of Hamdi Bilici, professor of finance at Cal State Long Beach, who spent two days trying to get through by telephone to his uncle’s family in Erzincan. On Sunday, he received word from his brother in Istanbul that they were fine.

“They were spending the winter in Istanbul (674 miles west of Erzincan), nowhere near the earthquake,” Bilici said. “We don’t know anything about their properties yet, but I’m just glad they’re OK.”

Although most members of the local group did not experience Turkey’s most tragic earthquake in 1939, which killed 30,000 in Erzincan, stories of the event have trickled down through the generations.

“I remember my mother telling me how she crouched over my older brother to protect him from the falling debris,” Bilici said. “Those were horrible times.”

Donations to the Turkish Earthquake Fund should be sent to 3701 Birch Street, Suite 127, Newport Beach, Calif. 92660.