Kerem Kinik, the president of the Turkish Red Crescent told Sputnik in an interview that the agency needed increased support to help provide humanitarian assistance to the millions of people in need in Syria's north amid escalating tensions in the region
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th December, 2019) Kerem Kinik, the president of the Turkish Red Crescent told Sputnik in an interview that the agency needed increased support to help provide humanitarian assistance to the millions of people in need in Syria's north amid escalating tensions in the region.
"We need increased support to continue assisting more than 4 million people in need in northern Syria, and those returning voluntarily, for whom, the cross-border humanitarian response from Turkey is the only lifeline,"� Kinik said.
He added that currently, funding for the organization's programs was limited.
"In Syria, humanitarian needs continue to increase every day but increased funding is not forthcoming. Maintaining the scale of today's humanitarian response is even challenging. For us, as humanitarians, our commitment is to protect and serve humanity. We need donors to commit further support for our humanitarian programs," Kinik said.
The Turkish Red Crescent currently provides assistance to eight internally displaced persons camps, six hospitals, 39 clinics and 15 orphanages in northern Syria. It has provided at least $1 billion-worth of humanitarian assistance to the region.
Since 2011, Syria has been suffering from an armed conflict between various opposition groups, including terrorist organizations, and the government led by President Bashar Assad. Idlib, which was designated a de-escalation zone in September 2018, remains one of the last territories outside the control of the central Syrian government.
