ANKARA
"Winter has come... Bread and Blanket for Syria" campaign initiated for the Syrians resuming their lives under difficult conditions, has been decided to be re-shaped on March 30.
Third Consultation and Coordination Meeting for the campaign was organized by the Platform for Humanitarian Relief Institution at the headquarters of the Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) in Turkish capital of Ankara on Monday.
A world-wide campaign will be initiated to establish a humanitarian relief corridor for Syria from March 30 onwards.
A civil initiative is to be put in place due to the state level attempts filed at the United Nations not yielding results.
All NGOs in the world and activists will be contacted in this framework and a campaign will be initiated to establish a relief corridor for Syria. Demonstrations will be organized in front of institutions such as the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), European Union and Organization of Islamic Cooperation to raise awareness.
According to another decision taken at the meeting, a Platform for World Humanitarian Relief will be established similar to the one in Turkey.
Fuat Oktay, President of AFAD, stated that there were currently 182,900 Syrian refugees residing in the camps in Turkey and there were over 100,000 Syrian citizens living in Turkey outside the camps.
Oktay stated that they tried to do their best in terms of hospitality and said that they did not expect anything in return.
Emphasizing that 19,123,464 TL has been collected in the accounts of AFAD, Religious Affairs and Turkish Red Crescent, Oktay stated that they aimed to use that money for the Syrians in need within the framework of international law and without violating the security dimension.
President of the Union of NGOs of the Islamic World, Ali Kurt, stated that the troublesome portrait of Syria put a mission on Turkey.
Underlining that they were being tested as public enterprises and NGOs in this process, Kurt said, "As of February 1, the amount this campaign has reached on the NGO axis is approximately 151 million Turkish liras. This has turned into an international level campaign ongoing in 20 countries rather than a national campaign taking place in Turkey. We are very pleased that the government and the civilians support this campaign hand to hand."
Stating that while Turkey was hosting 300 thousand Syrians, the world wasn't as successful in this test, Kurt said, "The aid Turkey has provided until this day is around 700 million Turkish Liras, however, looking at it from the UN standards this corresponds to around 1.5 billion dollars. Considering that the aid provided internationally was around 50 million liras, we can picture the sacrifice taken on by the Turkish people more clearly."
Following his speech Fuat Oktay thanked Anadolu Agency's Director General Kemal Ozturk and Anadolu Agency for their effort in announcing the services provided to the Syrians to the world.
Ali Kurt also thanked Anadolu Agency for spreading the campaign news to the world.
Turkey provides shelter, food, medicine, health care and clothing to the Syrians trying to survive in difficult conditions within scope of the "Winter has come... Bread and Blanket for Syria" campaign initiated on December 27, 2012 by official institutions and NGOs.
