Turkey's TIKA provides aid to families in Lebanon

By Wassim Seifaldin

BEIRUT (AA) - A Turkish development agency on Wednesday distributed food supplies to at least 1,000 Lebanese families in the northern cities of Tripoli and Aakkar of Lebanon.

The Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA)'s representative in Lebanon, Orhan Aydin said that the agency has distributed food supplies for those in need.

"The Turkish agency provided this year a total of 60 tons of food supplies to at least 4,000 families in need in Lebanon," Aydin said.

The supplies contain basic foodstuffs, including cereals, pastries and oil.

For his part, a Lebanese citizen, Ammar Qassim, 50, from the city of Aakkar expressed his gratitude to Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

TIKA provides aid in many Lebanese regions to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 380,500 people worldwide, with infections reaching nearly 6.4 million.

More than 2.7 million people have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

*Bassel Ibrahim contributed to this report from Ankara