IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation and Qatar-based Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF) jointly sent 450 tons of flour to the Syrians who have been victimized by ongoing violence in their country.
IHH’s ÖmerKesmen, who spoke at a ceremony at TÜYAP Adana International Fair and Congress Center prior to the departure of the 18-truck aid convoy to Syria, said it will be two years since the start of the incidents in Syria on March 15.
Kesmen said they know what took place in the country during these two years very well, adding that they also receive information about the incidents in the country from the Syrians who come to Turkey seeking refuge.
He said more than 70,000 people have been killed in Syria since the outbreak of the unrest in the country according to official figures and 15 percent of these people were children.
“As IHH, we have been working in crisis-hit regions for 20 years. From experience, we know that real figures are twice or three times higher than the official figures. The figures [of the people killed] in Syria is much higher. People are massacred when they are waiting in a queue to buy bread. Syrian regime bombs the civilians. There are many incidents of rape. We wish our Syrian sisters and brothers will be saved from massacres. We have been at the side of Syrian people and will continue to do so. More than six million people in Syria have had to leave their homes and towns so far. When people from the region wanted flour from us, IHH, we understood how terrible the crisis there was. We have sent more than 300 trucks carrying food to Syria in the past three months. We are making relief efforts for Syrians thanks to support from Turkish charity givers. We also receive support from charity organizations abroad. Qatar-based RAF is one of such institutions. We need to work more to send more aid to Syria.”
For his part, RAF official Mohammed S. Ibrahim said the people of Qatar have been at Syrian people’s side since the start of the unrest in the country thanks to an aid camping launched by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Ibrahim said they aim to send the aid collected in Qatar to Syria via Turkey.
“Since the beginning of Syrian crisis, we have concentrated our efforts to help Syrian people. Since the aid we collected will not be sufficient alone, we receive state support to send the aid to Syrians,” he said.
Noting that aid sent to Syria from Adana is part of this, Ibrahim said: “We know that this aid items will not be sufficient for Syrian people. The situation in Syria has worsened. They need more aid. As Muslims of Qatar, we are at Syrian people’s side. When this crisis is over, we will give hand in hand in order to reconstruct Syria.”
Following the speeches, the aid trucks set out to take aid to Syrians. Fourteen of the trucks would go to Syria by passing from the Cilvegözü and Yayladağı border gates on Thursday while four of the trucks would go to Akçakale district of Şanlıurfa where Syrian people have taken refuge.
