Turkey's UID, Kizilay launch aid campaign for Yemen

By Mesut Zeyrek

COLOGNE, Germany (AA) – The Union of International Democrats (UID) and the Turkish Red Crescent (Kizilay) launched an aid campaign Thursday to raise money for people in war-torn Yemen.

"11.3 million Yemeni children face death due to hunger, thirst, disease and lack of medical supplies, and unfortunately, every 10 minutes, a child is killed in Yemen," Bulent Bilgi, head of the UID, told reporters at the union's headquarters in Berlin, Germany.

Calling on especially those living in European countries to help Yemen, Bilgi said almost 22 million people, or 60 percent of the country's population, need immediate humanitarian aid.

Bilgi recalled that thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands were injured in Yemen during conflicts ongoing since 2015.

"Millions of people were displaced because of conflicts. As a country importing food, medical supplies and fuel oil, Yemen is in a major crisis," Bilgi said, urging people not to turn blind eye to the humanitarian tragedy in Yemen.

Yemen has been dogged by conflict since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sana’a, forcing the government to take up temporary residence in the coastal city of Aden.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia and several of its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in Yemen aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.

While the Saudi-led coalition has succeeded in wresting some territory back from the Houthis, the Shia rebel group remains firmly ensconced in Sana’a and in several other parts of the country.