Displaced children mark World Refugee Day in Istanbul

By Gulsum Incekaya

ISTANBUL (AA) - Around 1,000 refugee children with their families marked the World Refugee Day on Tuesday in Istanbul.

The program, organized by an Istanbul-based foundation Maya Vakfi in partnership with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was held to commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of displaced people.

The event, organized at the Hippodrome, included various workshops and activities for children.

"Today we are not only celebrating the World Refugee Day. We are here to remind these children of their childhood, to show them that they are not alone and to make all refugees feel welcome here," Maya Foundation President Esra Ozsuer said.

"We are here to show that we are together, to show that we are here for the refugees," she added.

Leyla Akca Atik, clinical director at Maya Vakfi, said that in order to integrate these children into Turkish society their mental strength and ability to cope with problems should be improved.

Atik said that the refugee children who live in Turkey and get their education in Turkish, receive psychotherapy education on how to express themselves and communicate with their peers.

Turkey has the largest refugee population in the world and is currently home to over 3 million Syrians, according to official data.

This number accounts for around 45 percent of all Syrian refugees in the region, the UN says. An additional 300,000 refugees are mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Somalia.