Turkish motorcyclist sells off signed helmet for $33,000 to help quake victims in country

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Motorcycle racer Bahattin Sofuoglu on Friday sold off a signed helmet for €31,000 ($33,100) to help earthquake victims in his native Türkiye.

Sofuoglu, 19, said on Twitter that a Turkish man bought it at an auction for €31,000, and the motorcyclist donated all proceeds from the sale to Türkiye's disaster agency AFAD.

MV Agusta Reparto Corse's Sofuoglu won the 2022 WorldSSP Challenge, a European title, with the helmet.

Bahattin is the nephew of Kenan Sofuoglu, who had a record five Supersport World Championship titles in motorcycle racing. Kenan, 38, retired from racing in 2018 to go into politics.

At least 38,000 people were killed by the two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, the country's disaster agency said early Friday.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centered in Kahramanmaras and struck 10 other provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Kilis, Osmaniye, Elazig and Sanliurfa. More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck Türkiye in the space of less than 10 hours.