UAlbany Students Organize Fundraisers to Help After Turkey Earthquake

A bulldozer lifts its blade high into the air next to a pile of rubble along a pier as people dressed in black walk by. The sky is gray and hazy and the street is littered with debris.

İskenderun, Hatay Turkey - Feb. 6, 2023. In Iskenderun, one of the places most affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Kahramanmaraş, many buildings were destroyed and people died. (Photo by Çağlar Oskay/Unsplash.com)

By Bethany Bump

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 28, 2023) — On the morning of Feb. 6, Tugba Ozbilir received a phone call informing her that there had just been a major earthquake in her home country of Turkey.

An international student at the University at Albany, Ozbilir had left home the year before to pursue a pilot training program in Miami, but her first stop was in Albany so she could enroll in English language courses.

After getting the news, she immediately began calling friends and family back home in Turkey, and was relieved to get her mother on the phone. But it quickly became apparent she was holding something back.

“I feel that there was a weird situation or problem but no one want to explain to me about it,” she said.

Finally, through another relative, Ozbilir learned the devastating news: She had lost her aunt and four cousins in the quake.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which struck near the Syrian border, was one of the most powerful earthquakes the country has seen in nearly a century, damaging and destroying hundreds of thousands of buildings and killing over 55,000 people as of mid-March. Some 15 million people are believed to be affected.

Susan Gorga, an instructor in UAlbany’s Intensive English Language Program (IELP), could see how badly the news was impacting Ozbilir, and offered to help organize a fundraiser to help victims back home.

The Help for Turkey Fundraising and Memorial Event will be held this Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center Auditorium. In addition to Turkish food and music by the Guilderland High School Orchestra, there will be a video presentation and special performance by a Turkish student on the bağlama, a stringed instrument popular in Turkey.

“It was painful to see a student suffering like that,” Gorga said. “On the one hand, there was nothing we could do; it was a natural disaster. But I said there was something we could do to take some power back, right? We could raise money to try to help rebuild.”

This was welcome news to Ozbilir, who felt helpless being so far away.

“Somehow you have to be strong,” she said. “If I couldn’t manage to do something for them, I believe that I would feel so bad. But just now, I’m just feeling lucky because I’m trying to do my best. This is my best.”

They reached out to Ferhat Ulukaya, another UAlbany student from Turkey. His family survived, but he has a friend who lost loved ones and was eager to find a way to help.

“I was in America and feel bad I couldn’t help,” he said. “I was calling my friends and ask, what are you doing? They were collecting clothes. They were collecting money. When Susan sent me a message about fundraising at UAlbany, I thought that’s a great idea.”

The three of them began reaching out to the local Turkish community to help drum up interest, and secured sponsorship from the IELP, the Center for International Education, the University at Albany Foundation, and the New York State Writers Institute.

In addition to the memorial event, they are also planning a Turkish Movie Night for Tuesday, April 4 at Page Hall, 135 Western Ave. They are planning to show The Water Diviner, a 2014 film starring Russell Crowe about a man who travels to Turkey after World War I to search for his missing sons.

“It’s free,” Gorga said. “But we’re just hoping that people will come and make a donation.”

Those who are unable to attend can still donate at http://donate.tpfund.org/UAlbany.

Proceeds will benefit the Turkish Philanthropy Fund, with funds going toward food, emergency medical supplies, and other support for victims and frontline workers.