How this NGO is helping victims of Turkish mine disaster provide for their families

In May 2014, Turkey’s worst mining disaster killed 301 workers in a coal mine in the western town of Soma. Since then, time has largely effaced the tragedy from public memory, with the trial of those responsible moving at a snail’s pace. Left behind are hundreds of impoverished women and children, struggling to hold on to life. Hundreds of households have lost their breadwinners as many miners were left crippled and jobless, in addition to those who perished in the fire.

A number of civic society groups, manufacturers and fashion designers have mobilized to help the miners’ wives earn their living. Anatolian Artisans, a Maryland-based nonprofit organization spearheaded by Turkish Americans, is among the helping hands. The organization, dedicated to supporting low-income artisans in Turkey since 1999, has focused not on widows but rather on women whose husbands have been incapacitated, left crippled by the disaster. It has established a workshop in Soma as part of a project to market the women’s handmade products to international customers.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Anatolian Artisans founder and president Yildiz Yagci said they joined hands with female Turkish activists and Turkey’s Association for the Support of Contemporary Living to launch the project last year, while two US-based organizations — the Turkish Philanthropy Fund and the Poverty Alleviation Fund — provided funds for the microenterprise.

“We brought international designers to the workshop to train the women in line with international standards,” Yagci told Al-Monitor. She said that the products included small bags, purses, puppets, necklaces, wristlets and organic-cotton scarves. “The women use traditional skills like needle-lace and embroidery, which they have known for years, to make contemporary products destined for the global market,” she added.