Khuan-Yu Hall, Contributing Photographer

After last week’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, a local mosque and pizzeria have launched programs to provide aid for those who have been displaced. 

With more than 35,000 dead and 380,000 displaced across Turkey and Syria, the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 6 is one of the deadliest earthquakes in the 21st century. To provide relief to those who are dealing with the fallout, both the Diyanet Mosque of New Haven and Brick Oven Pizza have been accepting donations and resources. Since last week, the mosque has primarily been accepting donations of clothing and has gathered at least six 30-foot-long trucks worth of clothing since last week.  

“We have had a Zoom meeting with the Turkish ambassador in Washington every couple of days, and then we started talking about how we were gonna do it,” said Haydar Elevi, president of the Diyanet Mosque. “We organized with 150 organizations in the U.S. Everyone gets together, and everyone does the best they can.”

According to Elevi, Feb. 13 is the last day that the mosque is accepting donations of clothing. He added that the mosque has sent multiple trucks worth of donations to the Turkish consulate in Boston. Over the next few years, Elevi hopes to continue supporting those affected by last week’s earthquakes by raising funds. 

On Feb. 10, Sen. Richard Blumenthal visited the Diyanet Mosque to meet with members of the roughly 2,000-member-strong Turkish diaspora in New Haven. 

“[We’re] bringing clothing, & other supplies to this wonderful place of faith & dedication,” Senator Blumenthal tweeted. “What has occurred in Türkiye & Syria is a catastrophe of epic proportions. I will work & fight for any & all assistance—in medical supplies, food, shelter, clothing, & more—that are needed now in this moment of devastating disaster.” 

Another group in New Haven that has been collecting resources to send to Turkey and Syria is Pizza at the Brick Oven. 

The pizzeria, located on Howe Street, hosted a fundraiser where they donated all of their sales from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Feb. 9 to Turkey and Syria. The fundraiser raised $9,215, which Brick Oven owner Kadir Catalbasoglu rounded up to $10,000 and delivered to the Turkish embassy. 

Catalbasoglu immigrated to the United States from Turkey in 1992 when he was 22 years old.

He said that since last Monday he has been talking to other Turkish members of New Haven’s business community. Although he said they are still developing ideas, they are hoping to come up with a way to gather blankets, supplies and cash to send back to Turkey.

According to Catalbasoglu, fundraising went well on Thursday in part because of coordination and support from the Yale’s Turkish Student Association, whose members were also at Brick Oven. 

“People will feel the effects of this for the next 10 years, and entire communities will need to be reestablished,” said Kemal Okvuran ’26. “There are hundreds of thousands of people that need to be moved somewhere, housed, sheltered, fed.”

Members of the TSA also told the News that their ongoing fundraising efforts with the International Students Organization have raised over $10,000. According to Okvuran, donations are also being matched two-to-one, and he said he hopes that it will increase to three-to-one soon. 

Ozan Okvuran ’26, another member of the TSA, said he worried that their fundraising efforts will likely dwindle as the news and social media move onto new topics. 

“So currently [we] have a lot of attention on the earthquake and especially the rescue efforts, but over the next few months, attention is going to dwindle,” Ozan Okvuran said. “Now it’s getting coverage, but in three weeks that’s not going to be the case, but in three weeks, there will still be hundreds of thousands of people living in tents.”

Since the earthquakes, the size of the TSA has doubled as Turkish students from Yale College and graduate schools have come together. TSA member Maya Ashaboglu ’26 said that the group has offered her support, especially during a time when most students seem to be unaware that there are Yalies for whom the earthquakes and aftermath are not just distant international headlines, but also events that affect them personally. 

Another member of the TSA, Cem Kupeli ’25, said that the focus of the group has not been on supporting themselves, but rather on finding ways to give to those back in Turkey. 

“Honestly, we haven’t really supported ourselves,” Kupeli said. “We’re only thinking about them right now. … We are only thinking about how we can help.”

The Diyanet Mosque is located on 533 Middletown Avenue.