Turkish charity urges more support for basic needs in Syria

A Turkish charity on Tuesday urged Turks to increase flour deliveries to Syria since stocks have begun running low due to a drop in donations.

"The need for bread in Syria is very high. In recent times, our stocks of flour have decreased with the drop in donations," Serkan Öktem, the Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH)'s coordinator in the southern province of Kilis told Anadolu Agency (AA).

Öktem said some facilities are at the point of closure and bread coming from ovens in Kilis, Reyhanlı district in the southern Hatay province and in many parts of Syria is being distributed to refugee camps in the Euphrates Shield region and the northern Idlib province of Syria.

"There is a big drama in Syria. Problems such as health and shelter, especially food problems, leave needy people helpless," he said, adding that Syrians are deprived of basic needs.

He said people need to be "sensitive" about the issue. "We want all associations to reach as many people as they can and to protect the oppressed in Syria," he added. The İHH charity has been carrying out aid projects in Syria since the country's devastating conflict began in 2011 when the Bashar Assad regime cracked down demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to the U.N. In the last two years, Turkey's Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations have liberated the region from the People's Protection Units (YPG), the PKK terrorist organization's Syrian affiliate, and Daesh terrorists, allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians to return to their homes.