Donations collected for July 15 coup attempt victims' families transferred to Treasury account

Duvar English

Vice President Fuat Oktay has said that the government had transferred the donations that were previously made by citizens to help the families of people killed and injured during the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt to the Treasury Single Account.

“The donations which were were made during the charity collection period, were transferred as of Jan. 2, 2019 in the amount of 338,971,731 [approximately $58 million] to the Treasury Single Account, provided that the money will receive interest from Ziraat Bank,” Oktay said on Dec. 9 at the parliament during budget discussions.

Oktay also added that the Solidarity with Martyrs’ Relatives and Veterans Foundation of Turkey -- which was established on Dec. 24, 2017 to put the collected donations into an efficient use -- would later decide on how this money would be utilized.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputies asked Oktay why, despite more than three years having passed since the coup attempt, the government still had not still given the money to the victims' families and people injured.

“Mr. Oktay, you are saying about the martyrs' money 'That money is currently at the Treasury' and you are bragging about the initially collected 309 million liras having turned into 338 million liras. If this money had belonged to just one martyr's family, that money would have turned into 495 million liras,” CHP group deputy chair Engin Özkoç said, criticizing the government's inefficient use of the money during this time period.

The Solidarity with Martyrs’ Relatives and Veterans Foundation of Turkey had previously hit the headlines after the CHP announced that they could not find anyone working at the foundation’s declared address in the capital Ankara. The CHP had undertaken such an investigation to see if the donations that were transferred to the foundation were properly used.