ANKARA: A 33-year-old Azerbaijani citizen, whose photo showing him driving a car with a Turkish flag on the top of the vehicle overloaded with aid for the people affected by the earthquake in Türkiye went viral on social media.
Sarvar Bashirli, told Anadolu that he feels it is his duty to support the earthquake victims in the “brotherly” country.
“We, my cousins and I, sat together on the day of the earthquake in Türkiye and we decided to help the brotherly country, to support it,” said Bashirli, adding that their economic condition was bad because they were forcibly displaced from their homeland in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, according to Anadolu Agency.
The next morning, Bashirli said, they went to his relatives, who are originally internally displaced people from Lachin – Azerbaijan’s region which has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades – to collect whatever they could as part of the earthquake relief to be sent to the people of Türkiye.
According to the latest official figures, more than 16,540 have been killed and over 66,130 injured after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes struck 10 southern Turkish provinces within the space of a few hours on Monday, affecting around 13 million people.
“Some stuff we collected from my uncles’ families. My grandmother lives in a dormitory, she also provided aid. Also, some neighbours brought some stuff for the Turkish people,” he said.
Driving his decrepit 1981-model car overloaded with several mattresses on the roof and cloth packages and boxes on the open door trunk, Bashirli delivered it to the special centre created for the aid collection in the capital Baku.
“We perceive it as our duty to support the people of Türkiye. We (Azerbaijan and Türkiye) are two states but one nation. We did what is necessary to be done. We did it and will continue doing so,” he said.
“This is a natural disaster. It is an inevitable incident. May Allah grant patience to people. My condolences to the Turkish nation,” Bashirli added.
The image of his car randomly taken by a passer-by and uploaded on social media drew the attention of millions of netizens who applauded and appreciated his efforts. Some of the netizens believe that his work will influence many more to do similar volunteer works.
Bashirli stressed that they keep collecting aid and delivering it to the collection centres as much as possible.
“We are continuing our help till now. Today, we delivered some foodstuff to the collection centre,” he said.
The Azerbaijani man also thanked all his countrymen across the world who joined the volunteer relief campaign to support the earthquake victims in Türkiye.
“They contributed much more than we did,” he concluded. – BERNAMA
