Turkish charity helps 2,000 families in Afrin

The Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH), an Istanbul-based Turkish charity group, provided humanitarian aid to 2,000 families in northwestern Syria's Afrin, the agency said yesterday.

The İHH distributed food, coal, carpet, beds, blankets and goods for babies to needy families across Afrin, the foundation's Syria Coordinator Zeki Tahiroğlu said in a statement.

"İHH's humanitarian aid work will continue in Afrin, which was cleared of terrorists in Turkey's Operation Olive Branch," said Tahiroğlu.

"The aid was loaded into a 12-vehicle convoy and was distributed among the disabled and needy in Afrin and its six towns," he added.

Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20, 2018 to remove the PKK-affiliated People's Protection Units (YPG) from Afrin. Turkish and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces entered Afrin town center and liberated it from terrorists on March 18.

Following the operations, Turkey has been involved in efforts to rebuild the town's infrastructure, as well as health and education institutions.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Bashar Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

Turkey has been hosting some 3.5 million refugees, the largest Syrian refugee community in the world. The country has spent some $30 billion for the needs of refugees living in tent camps and those living outside the camps on their own.

As the conflict escalated, Turkey stepped up its advocacy for the establishment of safe zones in Syria, to accommodate those who took shelter abroad and internally displaced Syrians.