Turkey slams US claim on not funding Palestine enough

By Betul Yuruk

NEW YORK (AA) – Turkey’s contributions to Palestine are not limited to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), Turkey's UN charge d'affaires said Tuesday.

Basak Yalcin shared details of Turkey’s assistance in the area of humanitarian aid and development in Palestine following criticism from U.S. UN envoy Nikki Haley, who claimed that Muslim countries had not done enough financially to support Palestinians.

“We will be pleased to share details of our assistance with those interested privately, but at this meeting, let me just remind that according to the Global Humanitarian Assistance Program of Development Initiatives, Turkey is the leading country with $8.7 billion worth of humanitarian assistance,” Yalcin said.

“This represents a 0.85 percent ratio between our national income and humanitarian assistance globally and makes us the most generous country in the world,” she added.

Earlier this year, the U.S. suspended over half of its funding for the UN's Palestine refugee agency, withholding $65 million of its $125 million in annual funds after Palestinians rejected a U.S. role in any peace talks.

The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital by U.S. President Donald Trump in December was a move widely seen as undercutting longstanding arrangements underpinning the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.