ANKARA
Relief collected by the Armenian community in Turkey including food and clothing will be delivered to the Armenians in Syria via the Turkish Red Crescent.
President of Turkish Red Crescent Ahmet Lutfi Akar stated to AA that Acting Armenian Patriarch Aram Atesyan requested an appointment where he stated that the Syrians living in Turkey were also struggling to live under difficult conditions.
Stating that Armenia provided some financial support, however it was insufficient, Akar said that Atesyan requested their help and said, "We have the authority to go to the border of a country and help the citizens of that country. Government officials and NGOs aren't permitted to do this. We can deliver help at the border before the observers from Red Cross and Red Crescent. I said that I'd be pleased to deliver the relief material to the Syrian Armenian Group."
Emphasizing that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized to help everyone in Syria regardless of their ethnicity, Akar said, "We try to help Arabs, Turkmens, Kurds, Armenians, whoever lives there with whatever they need, at the border."
Stating that the Armenians mainly resided in Aleppo and Damascus, Akar said, "We will deliver the relief materials collected by the Armenian community to the representatives of the churches in Aleppo. We provide help to the ones in need regardless of their religion due to our beliefs and customs. We supported the victims of the Philippines flood and the Haiti earthquake. Religion, ethnicity, language or gender of the victims don't matter for us, we will provide help regardless of all these."
