Turkey delivers 625 trucks of humanitarian aid to Iraq

Turkey has sent at least 625 trucks of humanitarian aid to Iraq up till now, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said Tuesday.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency in coordination with the Health Ministry, Turkish Red Crescent, the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency, as well as several non-governmental organizations and municipalities have been sending humanitarian aid to Iraq.

Trucks laden with food packages, medical equipment, tents and blankets reached Kirkuk, Irbil, Sincar, Tel Afer, Dohuk and many other areas in Iraq.

On Dec. 15, humanitarian assistance was also delivered to Turkmen in the region.

Around 6,000 Turkmen and Ezidis have been killed in ISIS attacks since June, according to an Iraqi government report.

Nearly two million people have been displaced in the country and 20,000 Ezidis took shelter in Turkey's Sirnak and Diyarbakir provinces.

Turkey has opened shelters with a capacity of 45,000 people in Iraqi city Zakho and village of Sharya near Dohuk province. The aid for shelters amounts to 72.4 million Turkish liras.

Iraq has been in a security vacuum since June, when ISIS terrorists overran Mosul and declared what it called a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.