Mother of Ali İsmail Korkmaz 'running after his son's dreams' at İstanbul marathon
Emel Korkmaz, mother of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, who lost his life as a result of brutal police violence during Gezi protests of 2013 in Turkey, is running for İstanbul's Eurasia Marathon 2016 tomorrow (November 13) to fundraise for ALİKEV’s (Ali İsmail Korkmaz Foundation) scholarship projects.
ALİKEV was founded by the family and friends of Ali İsmail Korkmaz in 2014 in honor of Ali İsmail’s memory and dreams for a ‘free and peaceful world.’
In 2011, at age 17, Ali İsmail had initiated a youth movement with the name of ‘Youth for the Society’ and mobilized his friends to carry out charity activities for the elderly, disabled, children in need, and nature.
Ali İsmail’s family found his diary, where he had expressed his thoughts on these activities and his motives, after his passing. He had written: “I’m writing these down only because I want to be able to gather my thoughts and enable this team, which is a group of young people who are truly working for the wellbeing of the society, to achieve something good; and, to be able to give it a credible and official status.”
Following along Ali İsmail’s dreams, his family founded ALİKEV and has been running charity projects aline with the purpose of the foundation. By participating in the marathon, Ali İsmail’s mother Emel Korkmaz is aiming to contribute to fundraising efforts of the charity for scholarships, which were actually granted to 52 students by ALİKEV for the 2016-2017 academic year.
Mother Emel Korkmaz says, “I am running after the dreams of Ali İsmail at the Eurasia Marathon of İstanbul; and, maybe, I will be able to give hope to one more young person! Let’s run together, let’s be the hope for many more young people!”
