In his statement, Yemelek said that the population of Aleppo which is about 4 million before the civil war has been decreasing rapidly day by day.
According to the information they have received, Yemelek estimates the population of Alleppo is now under 1 million. He said “Alleppo has became vacant rapidly. About two months before, the population here in Assalama was about 7-8 thousand. People have been fleeing from Aleppo to here in crowds. Now the population here is approximately 30 thousand.”
Pointing out that the kitchen that they established in Babussalam region has been getting larger in proportion with the population increase, Yemelek said currently about 30 thousand people benefit from the kitchen.
Yemelek mentioned that mobile healthcare clinic has been providing service there. He added, “There are no areas to establish tents in Babussalam region. So we have begun to search for an alternative settlement area. We will transfer new tent cities to the Shemmarin region of Azaz town, Aleppo. There is no space availability to settle people down in Babussalam. Syrians were settled in the school tents, schools and mosques. The larger tents in the social centers are completely full.”
Pointing out that the attempts to establish a new tent city in Assalama has been continuing, Yemelek said that:
“We try to establish a big tent city that can accommodate up to 1000 - 2000 thousand tents. We will try to establish it within two weeks. I have been following closely the happenings in Syria for 3 years. I have never seen such a migration till now. There has been a great flow of people because Aleppo is bombed every day. People somehow try to flee to Kilis. It seems that this migration will continue. As IHH, we are trying to set up a substructure for this project. Inshallah we will get through it.”
The price of the bread rose up to 16-17 Liras
Yemelek said that the humanitarian aid campaign called “I Need Your Help” launched in Turkey with the contributions of many humanitarian relief organizations, foundations and associations focusing on especially the children, the old and the women to hold on to life, helped very much.
Mentioning that as IHH, they planned to send 500 tons of flour to the region the next day, Yemelek noted:
“In some places in Syria, the price of the bread rose up to 16-17 Turkish Liras. By sending flour, we reduced the prices to 3-4 Liras. Our aim is to reduce this price to the level that it was before the war, by providing flour. We have a mobile bakery in Assalama. We will send another mobile bakery there. We have made agreements with bakeries within Syria. We are meeting their flour and diesel fuel needs.”
