IHH President Bülent Yıldırım talked about the latest situation in Syria and needs of the Syrians.
The Syrian representatives said Syrian people are in a difficult situation and they wait for help.
The NGO representatives from Syrian provinces such as Hama, Homs, Idlib, Damascus and coastal and eastern areas held a consultative meeting in İstanbul and exchanged views about the latest situation of the country. The meeting took place at Berr Hotel in Fatih district.
Speaking at the meeting, IHH’s Yıldırım said the world remains indifferent to the people who are massacred in Syria.
“There are people who are massacred. The world has remained silent to the situation of these people. Neither a humanitarian aid corridor was opened nor was this issue extensively debated by the international community. They failed to send a pair of shoes to a child there who cannot find one and feels cold severely,” he said.
Yıldırım said several countries including Turkey are helping Syria, adding: “We just want to get rid of excuses such as ‘there is no solidarity in Syria, every institution is working on its own, it is not known who is working with who and who is a friend of who in Syria or can you guarantee that the aid sent to Syria will not be stolen once it is there?’ In this regard, we made an extensive research about civil society organizations in the country. We were faced with a scary picture. Civil society organizations were not allowed to operate in Syria. There are only several of them in some places. Now, civil society organizations have been established in every part of the country. Among us, there are representatives from 53 civil society organizations from Syria. This is a big success which has been achieved in a short time. When you want to send aid to regions such as Hama, Homs or Idlib, you need to get in touch with aid organizations which have executive boards.”
Making a call to all the civil society organizations across the world, Yıldırım said: “If you have humanitarian feelings, you can make use of the aid campaigns and send aid to Syria. If there is no mercy in your hearts, you can come up with excuses. The number of people killed in the conflict in Syria is reported to be 64,384. It is said that 4,500 of them were children. When someone dies in a region, their relatives cannot even go there to claim the body. In some cases, relatives of a victim do not even reveal a family member was killed. They do this in order to protect other family members. So, the figures do not reflect facts.”
Humanitarian situation in Syria and urgently-needed items
Yıldırım also made a summary of the latest humanitarian situation in Syria.
The 22-month-long clashes in Syria resulted in the
Killing of 64,838 people
Killing of 4,500 children
Killing of 4,800 women
Injury of 225,000 people
The number of people in the prisons is more than 200,000
The number of missing persons is more than 100,000
The number of internally-displaced persons is more than 4 million
One million Syrians live as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. 600,000 of these people live in tents.
The number of schools which were demolished is 3,500
The number of hospitals and clinics which were demolished is 2,000
The 60 percent of agricultural fields and 70 percent of workplaces have become unusable
Diseases in the region:
Hepatitis A and B, diarrhea, dermatologic disorders, tuberculosis, liver infection
Children and women who have been traumatized by the war need treatment.
List of urgently-needed medical items
List of urgently-needed items (according to priority)
A- With regards to food
1.) Varieties of canned food (fish, chicken, beans and eggplant)
2.) Varieties of instant soup (mushroom, chicken, cereal, lentil, yoghurt)
3.) Potatoes
4.) Legumes (rice, bulgur, pasta, red lentil)
5.) Dates
6.) Varieties of jam
7.) Margarine
8.) Olive
9.) Tomato paste
10.) Flour
11.) Cooking oil
B- List of needed baby supplies
1.) Baby formula
2.) Baby biscuits
3.) Milk powder
4.) Diapers
5.) Sanitary pads
C- Heating:
1.) Blankets
2.) Sponge beds
3.) Firewood
D- List of needed medical supplies
Narcosis
Antibiotics
Surgery equipments and supplies
Painkillers
Medicine for diabetes patients
Pads
Thanks to IHH
In the meantime, Ustaz Muhammad, a representative from Homs Relief Association, offered his thanks to Turkish people and IHH for their relief efforts in Syria.
“Whoever does not thank a servant does not thank Allah. Turkish people have never left us alone. I also offer my thanks to IHH President Yıldırım. He ensured the release of 2,000 people of our nation. May Allay be pleased with him,” he said.
A representative from Turkmen region, Samir Hafiz, for his part, said an earthquake lasts 60 seconds at most but the crisis in Syria has been going on for 22 months.
“I make a call everyone from here. Syrian people are in a difficult situation. We are Turkmens but we don’t feel ourselves as different from others. Turkmens, Arabs, Kurds, Alevis are all in solidarity there. The world should not remain silent to the tragedy in Syria,” he said.
Doctor Abdurrahman, a member of Syrian Doctors’ Association, said what they most need in Syria is narcosis. He said narcosis is not easily accessible in the international arena so it is difficult to have it.
“In addition to this, antibiotics, insulin and medicine for children are among the urgently-needed items,” he added.
