By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The catastrophic events in Turkey shook the whole planet, and athletes from around the globe are trying to help, Turkish national team players Melih Mahnmutoglu and Furkan Korkmaz among them.
Fenerbahce’s captain Mahmutoglu is putting his jersey with all of his teammates’ signatures up for auction, and he also managed to get help from his former teammates, Atlanta Hawks player Bogdan Bogdanovic and Barcelona center Jan Vesely.
Bogdanovic’s Hawks No. 13 and Vesely’s No. 6 signed jerseys are also being put up for auction to donate to the earthquake victims in Turkey.
Barcelona’s big man also made a generous €25,000 donation to the victims of the Kahramanmaras earthquake victims, as Anadolu Efes’ Shane Larkin revealed.
Philadelphia 76ers swingman Korkmaz asked his teammates Joel Embiid and James Harden for help and will also put their signed jerseys up for auction.
“Three days ago, my beautiful country got hit by an earthquake. A lot of people died, a lot of people got hurt, and there are still a lot of people out there waiting for someone to save their lives. This is very serious; I need your help, and my country needs your help. I talked to my teammates and organizations, and we are trying to raise money and help my country. James Harden and Joel Embiid signed their jerseys and gave me permission to put them for auction. You can bid for those jerseys and help my county,” Korkmaz said.
Former Fenerbahce player Gigi Datome also supported the cause.
“Today, we were supposed to be in Istanbul playing in Ataşehir, but we won’t for well-known reasons. I waited some days before posting anything, simply because I was shocked and astonished by the tragedy in my beloved Turkey and Syria. Tweeting something in support didn’t make me feel supportive enough. I have friends who lost their friends and their family members, like thousands of others. Thousands of stories, thousands of tragedies. Seeing those images that we see these days it’s painful and miserable,” Datome wrote on social media and pointed to trustworthy NGOs where for donations: Ahbap and Croce Rossa Italiana