Where did the money collected in Turkey for flood victims in BiH end up?

The Turkish people and non-governmental institutions and organizations responded extraordinarily quickly and organizedly to the disaster that struck Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the May floods, writes the news agency Patria. However, it has not yet been announced how much money was collected and where it ended up.

The result of the campaigns in Turkey is that the Government, governmental institutions and organizations, such as TIKA (Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency), AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Authority/Presidency of Turkey, Directorate for Disasters and Natural Disasters), the Turkish Red Crescent, IHH (Humanitarian Relief Foundation), and the Ministry of Religious Affairs launched a large-scale campaign to collect aid for the population affected by the floods in BiH.

Thus, as the news agency Patria learns from diplomatic circles, the Ministry of Religious Affairs on Friday - May 23, 2014, in accordance with the decision of Mehmet Görmez, the Grand Mufti, organized the collection of sadaqah - voluntary financial contributions for the affected areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina in all mosques in Turkey (it is estimated that there are about 90,000 mosques in Turkey, editor's note), after the Friday prayer.

During the Friday prayer, an appeal from the Ministry of Religious Affairs was also conveyed, stating that a mega-scale natural disaster had occurred in BiH, resulting in the displacement of over one million people.

Furthermore, it was stated that a huge number of houses, agricultural areas, farms, and infrastructure had been destroyed. In addition, the Ministry of Religious Affairs opened special accounts for collecting financial aid for the affected areas in BiH.

The then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also ordered, by circular act number 2014/9, the collection of financial aid for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia. For this purpose, the Prime Minister instructed all governmental organizations (AFAD and others) to open special accounts and coordinate humanitarian organizations, foundations, associations, professional organizations, media outlets - with the participation of civil society organizations in the campaign to provide aid to the countries of the Western Balkans.

Finally, an SMS number was provided for Turkish citizens to donate their contributions directly by calling "1866". The same number was used by all mobile operators in Turkey (Turkcell, Vodafone, and Avea GSM).

Regarding the non-governmental sector, through the mediation of BIGMEV, the president of MOSDER (Union of Forest Products Exporters) Ahmet Gulec, in cooperation with the Turkish Red Crescent, launched a campaign "100 trucks of furniture" for the affected areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to information available so far, 20 trucks have arrived in BiH.

In addition to the above, numerous Bosniak associations in Turkey opened sub-accounts for collecting aid. Also, Bosniak associations in Turkey organized the sending of humanitarian aid to the affected areas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH and the Embassy of BiH in Ankara issued an appeal for providing aid, as well as a recommendation for collecting monetary contributions to the account of the Embassy or the Ministry.

All collected funds and all accounts in Turkey were controlled and coordinated by the Government. Considering all of the above, and the fact that numerous governmental and non-governmental accounts were opened in Turkey, the question justifiably arises: how much money was collected and where did those contributions end up?