Gaziantep - (AFP) - Displaced Turks, displaced by the earthquake, line up in icy temperatures in Gaziantep to receive a hot meal served by restaurants as part of a solidarity campaign in this city in the south of the country.

"The queues are endless, but the restaurants offered much more than what the government did," said Agdi Gunes, one of the displaced.

At the Chadash Imam Restaurant in Gaziantep, about four thousand dishes have been distributed for free since the earthquake that has claimed the lives of 28,000 people in Turkey and Syria so far.

"We prepare easy-to-prepare and serve hot dishes to counter the cold, such as pasta and soup, since the morning," said Burhan Chadash, the son of the owner of the restaurant.

He added that the restaurant prepares four or five different dishes every day, noting that "if we do not have enough ingredients, other restaurants provide them for us. They know that it is about helping people in need."

Nearly 2,000 people were killed in the earthquake that struck Gaziantep, near the epicenter, and tens of thousands of residents were forced to leave their apartments, which are now considered unsafe.

Due to a lack of ingredients, Imam Chadash Restaurant is no longer able to serve the dishes it is famous for, but it still serves Turkish soup or tava, made from tomatoes, onions, meat and spices.

"Our staff find themselves in a very difficult situation. Their families have been victims and their homes have been destroyed," Chadash said. The family of Berhan Chadash himself has been sleeping in the cars since Monday.

But the wave of solidarity is stronger than all circumstances. "We want to help," Chadash explained.

Other restaurants and cafes in Gaziantep followed the example of Chadash Imam.

Every afternoon, hundreds of displaced people line up in front of Ferino, a trendy café at the foot of the Gaziantep Citadel, whose towers collapsed during the earthquake.

In the Kaleali restaurant, also located in the tourist district of Gaziantep, about three thousand soups are served daily with bread. "We will continue to do what we are doing as long as the crisis persists, even if it lasts for weeks," said the manager of the place, who also goes by the name of Burhan.

Even small businesses have joined the campaign. "We serve 200 kebabs a day," said Heder Nemacek, who runs a small kiosk selling kebabs with his wife in the Şahinbey district of Gaziantep.

In the park where families spend the nights in the cold, people who have been made homeless line up to get food. Cities across the country sent trucks full of food and water to the quake-affected areas.

"I stand in line once a day, but in order to have dinner with my children we are looking for a restaurant: the dishes served there are much better," said Deniz Erdoğlu, who lives in a tent with his wife and their four children.

Also, some sell their livestock to be able to help the displaced, like Sharigul Kachan, 70, who came from Kars province (east) and sold a cow for 13,000 Turkish liras (650 euros) to send money to the earthquake victims, according to Turkish media.

Like her, Nazima Kilic, who was a victim of the 1983 earthquake in Erzurum (east), sold her bull for 23,000 liras (1,145 euros). "I have eight children. I tell them: help as much as you can," she was quoted by Turkish media as saying.