Celebrities in Turkey and the Arab world not only expressed their grief over the successive tragic events left by the earthquake that struck the Middle East, whose magnitude reached 7.8 on the Richter scale, and resulted in tens of thousands of victims and injured in Turkey and Syria, but rather made sure to present Moral and material support for the afflicted and also encourage others to donate and provide support.
Turkey celebrity donations
Turkish rock singer Haluk Levent launched a campaign to collect aid for those affected by the earthquake, before announcing that the Turkish artist Kivanc Tatlitug - known in the Arab countries as Muhannad - had donated 200,000 Turkish liras (10.6 thousand US dollars), followed by the Turkish football player Merih. Demiral, who donated one million liras (53 thousand US dollars).
Actor Kanaan Imrzali Oglu also donated 1 million liras, soccer player Burak Yilmaz was keen to donate 300,000 liras ($16,000), and actor Burak Deniz donated 150,000 liras ($8,000).
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Moral aid
Some artists - such as Borgo Perijic and Salma Argic (starring in the series Hareem Al-Sultan) - participated in hours with volunteers in packing materials and aid before sending them to families affected by the earthquake, as part of the relief activities of a number of charitable institutions.
As for the Turkish artist Gözdi Kansu - known to the Arab public as Gulgun Korhan, Farid's mother in the series "The Kingfisher Bird" - she donated a large amount in addition to a number of blankets and clothes for the relief of those affected, and the donors also participated in packing materials through a charitable organization.
Interaction of Arab artists
A number of Arab artists were keen to contribute to donations for the benefit of the afflicted in Turkey and Syria.
The administration of the Syrian singer George Wassouf confirmed his donation for the benefit of the earthquake victims, but he did not announce the value of the donation, and denied the rumors that announced his donation of one and a half billion Syrian pounds (the dollar is approximately equivalent to 2,500 pounds).
Wassouf wrote a tweet through his official account on Twitter, in which he said, "May God give patience to the burned hearts and heal the wounded. The disaster is great and the pain is greater."
In the context, singer Nancy Ajram announced that she would donate a large part of the proceeds from her concerts during the coming period to those affected by the earthquake in Syria.
While the Egyptian artist, Donia Samir Ghanem, dedicated her official account on Instagram to contribute to the relief efforts for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and wrote in her message, "As a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, whoever wishes to donate can through Instagram to provide aid to children and families."
As for the Emirati artist, Belqis Fathi, she donated her entire salary for her concert, which she participated in yesterday, Wednesday, at the Global Village in the Emirate of Dubai, for the benefit of those affected in Syria.
Belqis said in a video clip, "I believe that humanly each of us should contribute, even a little, and I came up with a wonderful initiative, which is that the reward that I received at the ceremony goes to saving the afflicted by the Syrian earthquake."
The Syrian actress Solaf Fawakherji and director Wael Ramadan also announced their donation of 21 million Syrian pounds (about 8,400 US dollars) to those affected by the earthquake in the stricken governorates.
Solaf wrote on her Facebook page, "Our lives are cheap in front of our country and the people of our country, and the pain of every Syrian is our pain, and nothing has value."
The Syrian Artists Syndicate revealed, on its official Facebook page, the donation of many artists, as the artist Tim Hassan donated 107 million Syrian pounds (about 42.8 thousand US dollars) for the benefit of the earthquake victims in Syria.
The artist Bassam Koussa donated 15 million Syrian pounds (about 6,000 dollars), and the artist Hossam Junaid and his wife Emarat Rizk donated 200 million Syrian pounds (about 80 thousand dollars), and Nassif Zeitoun donated 360 million Syrian pounds (about 144 thousand dollars).
As for the media, Halima Boland, she chose to support by adopting a Syrian child who was pulled from the rubble and lost his family, and Boland said - in a video clip on Snapchat - that she would like to take him to live with her in Kuwait and with her daughters, and to act as a mother to him, and asked the audience about Procedures required for adoption in Kuwait.
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Maxim Khalil calls for exposing the "aid thieves"
As for the artist, Maxim Khalil, he turned his account on Instagram into a platform to help the earthquake victims, through a number of separate publications dedicated to each region affected by the earthquake, to provide distress and information about the missing so far, and the publications included Syrian regions such as Aleppo, Idlib, Afrin, Jableh, Tartous, Hama, and others. Turkish, such as Gaziantep and Antakya.
Maxim Khalil also appealed to artists and influencers on social media to reveal the names of the aid thieves, and wrote in his message, "You can tell what you saw and expose these people by name below." The post also included a number of names of some of those whose followers claimed they had stolen aid destined for the earthquake victims.