Turkish NGOs bring peace, aid to Syria’s Afrin

Turkish aid agencies have been providing hot meals and humanitarian relief to hundreds of thousands of civilians in cooperation with the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) in Syria’s Afrin since troops entered the northwestern region.

İbrahim Altan, head of the Turkish Red Crescent, said, “A total of 1.494.040 plates of food have been produced and distributed to civilians, as well as 80,000 loaves of bread. Following that, we delivered boxes containing dry food to families.”

Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), another Turkish NGO in the region, has distributed an estimated $50 million worth of aid and reached 70.000 people.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey (AFAD), Turkish Red Crescent and Turkish army jointly conducted humanitarian efforts in 139 points, reaching 335.000 civilians by providing 163.818 food packages and sanitary items.

“We have intensified our efforts in Afrin, in the region of Operation Olive Branch. We have started to provide humanitarian relief to people living in Afrin’s town center and districts, right after the military operation was complete,” Altan continued.

Underlining that they work with specialists on cross-border operations Altan said, “We have been providing humanitarian aid to Syrians both living in Turkey and Syria. On the other hand, we have been helping civilians in the regions cleared of terror elements".

“We continue to distribute humanitarian aid materials by going to the villages that have not been reached before and the regions that were previously unreachable,” he concluded.

On Jan. 20 Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to remove YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin. On March 18, Turkish troops and Free Syrian Army members liberated its city center, on the 58th day of the operation. Demining and sweeping activities are ongoing in the region.