Turkey helps 2,000 E.Ghouta families to safety

By Ahmet Sertan Usul

ANKARA (AA) - A foundation linked to Turkey's top religious body said Tuesday it had helped to transport 2,000 families in a besieged Syrian enclave to temporary shelters in the city of Idlib.

Teams of the Turkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV), connected to the Religious Affairs Directorate or Diyanet, greeted a convoy of vehicles carrying civilians from Eastern Ghouta and helped them, the group said in a statement.

“Foundation teams distributed food and gave health checks to the people. Then our teams helped to transport 2,000 families to temporary shelters in Idlib, Syria. The TDV is on the ground to help needy people with 40 buses, two ambulances, and three humanitarian aid vehicles,” said the statement.

“We welcomed the families in the safe zone and transferred them to our settlement center and other temporary accommodation centers in various parts of Idlib by bus,” said Mahmut Temelli, the group’s Syria coordinator.

Temelli underlined that the TDV will continue to help the region and also thanked all donors for their help.

The foundation also provides clothing to needy families through its five charity stores in Syria.

Since the start of the Syrian war, the foundation has sent aid worth almost 200 million Turkish liras (over $52 million)

The foundation provides humanitarian aid, school construction, stationery assistance, promotion of university training activities, building rehabilitation centers, reconstruction, maintenance, and repair of mosques, training of religious officials, and development projects across the world.

Since Feb. 19, more than 1,000 people have reportedly been killed in attacks by the regime and its allies in Eastern Ghouta.

Home to some 400,000 civilian residents, the district has remained under a crippling regime siege for the last five years that has prevented the delivery of badly needed humanitarian supplies.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since March 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.