Galatasaray players donate their salaries to earthquake victims

Galatasaray players will donate their salaries to victims of the earthquake that left more than 35,000 dead and millions homeless in Turkey, the club president announced on Wednesday.

“Many of our players gave up their salaries to [fund] earthquake relief operations,” Dursun Özbek told a news conference.

Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Besiktas – the other two big Istanbul clubs – have also launched donation campaigns, sending aid trucks to the southern and southeastern provinces of the country devastated by the February 6 earthquake.

The Turkish Premier League authorities suspended all football activities after the earthquake, and two Süper Lig clubs – Hatayspor and Gaziantep FK – decided to withdraw.

These two teams are in particularly affected provinces. Ghanaian striker Christian Atsu, a Hatayspor player, is also still missing, nine days after the earthquake.