Global aid body head praises Turkey's refugee efforts

By Meryem Goktas

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - The newly-elected president of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has praised Turkey for carrying out the “immense job” of hosting the largest number of refugees.

The General Assembly of the seven-day long IFRC global statutory meetings began on Sunday.

Francesco Rocca, who heads the Italian Red Cross, was elected IFRC president following a voting process in the assembly that convened in the Mediterranean city of Antalya on Monday.

Rocca will be at the helm for a four-year term after bagging 98 out of 189 total votes.

“For us [in the IFRC], the most important thing is the dignity of each human being. This is the call and Turkey is doing an immense job,” Rocca told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

“The risk what we have sometimes when we cope with a big number is to forget that behind each number there is a story, there is a man, there is a woman, there is a lot of tears and that we have to remember this always.”

He said the number of people that Turkey hosted in such a short time would have “overwhelmed” many other countries.

He also said there is a “very close and historical friendship” between the Italian Red Cross and the Turkish Red Crescent.

"We work together because Kerem Kinik [head of Turkish Red Crescent] is a very good person but behind him there is a very strong national society, thousands of volunteers who work tirelessly," he said.

Kinik has been elected as vice president IFRC and would be responsible of the European Zone for the organization.

"We are prompted to natural disasters, earthquakes and now we have this immense strategy of migration so this is something that we have unfortunately in common and so it is good if we improve our capacity on working together," he added.

The IFRC president said this period is full of humanitarian challenges with new scenarios, which is why the international aid body needs to raise the voice of the vulnerable.

Additionally, he emphasized that the young volunteers will be the focus.

"Empower the youth is an imperative for my mandate. We have to mix the experience of the adults with the enthusiastic approach that the young volunteers are able to bring in our organization," he said.

About his main goal, Rocca said he aims to increase the number of volunteers.

“The dream would be to double the number of the volunteers, that means that we would be able to better spread our messages,” he said.