Turkey, the European Union and international partners are in engagement to ensure the continuation of a humanitarian corridor into Syria, which has vital importance for the Syrian people amid the ongoing war in the country, the bloc’s envoy to Ankara said on Monday.
During a visit to southern Hatay province, bordering Syria, the head of the EU delegation to Turkey Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut said, "What I want to see is that the issue of Syria is continuing to take a place at the top of the EU agenda."
He reiterated that the EU recently held a conference on Syria in Brussels and that the bloc’s humanitarian support for Syria was once again underlined during the meeting as was the need for a political solution.
"Unfortunately, no fast progress is attained in this field due to the attitude of the Assad regime as well as the regime’s international backers," he added.
"Since 2011, the EU and its member countries continue to be the biggest donors in terms of the support provided for the crisis in Syria. At the Syria Conference held in the past weeks, another 6.5 billion euros ($6.77 billion) of support was promised. More than 4 billion euros of this figure includes the support from the EU," Meyer-Landrut added.
Emphasizing that such aid is of vital importance for Syrians across the border, the envoy stated that one-third of aid goes through this corridor.
The United Nations mandate for the border crossing is ending on July 10 with the international community increasingly fearing that Russia might veto it, which could lead to a humanitarian disaster in the war-torn country.
Russia has advocated ending all cross-border aid to Syria, arguing it undermines Syria’s sovereignty despite several reports that the Bashar Assad regime hinders humanitarian aid to areas not under its control.