Turkey’s humanitarian organizations have been continuing their efforts of sending aid to Syrians in need since the start of the war over a decade ago.

The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) has been trying to meet the food, shelter, health and educational needs of Syrians since the war erupted and has, within this scope, sent at least 63,433 trucks of aid for over 6.7 million people in the country.

Kızılay has organized an aid program on the occasion of World Orphans Day in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province and has shared with Anadolu Agency (AA) a report on the institution’s aid activities spanning from August 2012 to March 2022.

The aid programs include the regions of Idlib, the Operation Euphrates Shield, Operation Olive Branch and Operation Peace Spring areas. According to the report, 33.8 million liters of water, as well as at least 143.5 million lavash bread (a thin Turkish flatbread), were sent to Syrians in those areas.

The 63,433 humanitarian aid trucks were sent through 14 border aid points while the aid reached 6.7 million people.

Turkey has also initiated a project of building briquette houses. In Idlib and Azaz, 2,461 houses have been completed so far and delivered to their new owners. Furthermore, the construction of new briquette homes has also started.

Turkey has been pushing ahead with its efforts to establish a safe environment and housing for Syrians in the country's north and around 500,000 Syrians returned to their country. The briquette houses offer a warm shelter in contrast to the harsh living conditions in tents, which often get flooded during heavy rains or cause poisoning when Syrians try to light a fire amid harsh winter conditions.

Furthermore, Kızılay has ensured shelter for 27,092 Syrians residing in eight camps and orphanages. The report said that 871,575,377 food materials, 28,674,670 hygiene materials, 129,656 shelter materials, and 168,791,073 health materials were delivered.

Speaking at an iftar event, a dinner to mark the breaking of the daily fast, on Orphans Day, Director General of Kızılay Ibrahim Altan said: “We provide iftar to 77,000 people in Syria. We deliver food materials to 30,000 families. We have 12 orphanages where 3,000 orphans stay. In Ramadan, we try to answer the need for iftar while we try to meet the nutritional and other needs during other times. Again, in the field of health, we have two mobile clinics.”

A girl who lost her father during the attacks of the Assad regime, Betül Sevade, said that they moved to a village south of Idlib and resided currently at the Faruk camp. She was brought to Kızılay’s iftar and was given new clothes for Bayram.

For 10 years, the Bashar Assad regime has ignored the needs and safety of the Syrian people, only eyeing further territorial gains and crushing the opposition. With this aim, the regime continues to bomb vital facilities such as schools, hospitals and residential areas, causing the displacement of almost half of the country’s population while adopting policies to ensure their lives are more difficult.

The Idlib region, where 2.8 million displaced people live, is the last Syrian enclave to oppose the regime in Damascus. Humanitarian aid reaches the region mainly through the Turkey-Syria border under special U.N. authorization free from Damascus' interference, which expires in July.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia in March 2020. However, the Syrian regime has consistently violated the terms of the cease-fire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

Another orphan, 11-year-old Rimas Bustani said: “We migrated from southern Idlib’s Ariha district. I lost my father during the regime’s attack.”

Ankara spearheaded humanitarian aid efforts for Syrians in opposition-controlled parts of northern Syria and Turkey while making large investments for Syrians in Turkey in social cohesion policies to help Syrians integrate into society smoothly.

Since launching several operations in northern Syria to fight terrorism, Turkey also rolled up its sleeves to reconstruct hospitals, schools, mosques and roads destroyed by the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist organization, the YPG.

Within the scope of ameliorating the region's social infrastructure, several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) gave people food and clothing while roads and buildings were rebuilt. These efforts paid off as hundreds of displaced Syrians started to return to the liberated areas.

Meanwhile, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) also continued its aid efforts and has delivered Ramadan packages to 135,000 people in Syria.

Selim Tosun, the organization’s Syria media official said in a written statement: “In this process, we have delivered 22,656 Ramadan packages with basic needs material such as dry legumes, breakfast materials, tea, sugar, tomato paste and oil to families in the regions of Syria’s Idlib, Afrin, Azaz, al-Bab, Jarablus, Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad.”/DS