Serbia organises friendship cycling race with Türkiye for quake victims

The Turkish-Serbian Friendship Cup, which has been a tradition in the Serbian capital Belgrade since 2018, was held for people affected by the devastating twin earthquakes that struck Türkiye in early February.

Members of Türkiye's cycling club from Mardin, one of the cities that suffered damage in the earthquakes, were special guests at the race on Sunday, in which more than 250 cyclists participated.

Turkish Ambassador to Serbia Hami Aksoy said they also celebrated both National Sovereignty and Children’s Day and the 103rd anniversary of the foundation of the country’s parliament.

"Sport brings people together, gathers them in one place. We will continue with these activities," said Aksoy.

Friendly relations

The State Secretary in Serbia’s Ministry of Sports, Marko Keselj, said he was glad that this was another opportunity and occasion to strengthen brotherly and friendly relations between the two countries.

"Following the tragic earthquakes in Türkiye, Serbian rescuers and our firefighters were among the first to come to the aid of the Turkish people. Thus, this race and all sports events can be one of the examples of how we strengthen friendly relations between our two countries," said Keselj.

Citizens and civil organisations as well as the Serbian government organised many campaigns to help Türkiye's quake victims.

The twin earthquakes on February 6 in southern Türkiye killed more than 50,000 people in the country.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 Turkish provinces - Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa.

Around 14 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the quakes.

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