Swiss ambassador donates blood to Turkish Red Crescent
Switzerland's Ambassador to Ankara, Guillaume Scheurer donates blood at a Turkish Red Crescent center as part of a nationwide campaign encouraging blood donations, in Türkiye, on Jan. 28, 2025. (Courtesy from Turkish Red Crescent)
Switzerland’s Ambassador to Ankara, Guillaume Scheurer, along with his wife, Farin Scheurer, and embassy staff, donated blood to the Turkish Red Crescent to raise awareness about blood donation on Tuesday.
Visiting the Turkish Red Crescent Central Anatolia Regional Blood Center to make his donation, Ambassador Scheurer emphasized that voluntary blood donation is a family tradition for him and that he has continued this practice in the countries where he serves as ambassador:
“Today, I am donating my blood alongside colleagues from the Swiss Embassy. This is a symbol, a gesture, an act of solidarity with the Turkish people and citizens. As you know, blood donation is a noble effort. It takes very little time; it does not hurt, yet through this gesture, you can help many people.”
By carrying out this act with my colleagues from the Swiss Embassy, we aimed to highlight the efforts of the Turkish Red Crescent during the 100th year of friendship between Switzerland and Türkiye.
This is truly excellent work. A very well-organized system. Our processes were smooth, truly efficient, very professional, and very fast. In this way, we wanted to emphasize the importance of everyone taking a little time to donate blood.”
The visit was attended by Alper Kucuk, General Manager of International Affairs and Migration Services at the Turkish Red Crescent, Raphael Hamoir, Program Coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and Alattin Temur, Head of the Department for Switzerland at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
‘Large-scale volunteer mobilization, medical operation’
Alper Kucuk explained that blood services are a significant part of the Turkish Red Crescent’s activities: “As the Turkish Red Crescent, we collect blood donations across the country through our blood centers, meeting 97% of the country’s blood needs. This is a massive volunteer mobilization and, at the same time, a large-scale medical operation happening daily.
Today, we are pleased to host the Ambassador and his delegation to draw attention to the importance of voluntary blood donation in Türkiye and worldwide. Today also marks the beginning of a series of events for the Swiss Embassy, as this year celebrates the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Switzerland.”
2.7 million donation units in 2024
As mandated by law, Turk Kizilay operates 18 Regional Blood Centres, 69 Blood Donation Centres, and more than 300 mobile and fixed teams across Türkiye to ensure a safe and consistent blood supply. In 2024, a total of 2.3 million donors contributed 2.7 million units of blood.
The number of regular blood donors exceeded 1.5 million.
