Turkish aid agency serves hot meals to poor in N. Syria

By Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) – An Istanbul-based aid agency is providing hot meals every day to thousands of people in northern Syria, an official of the agency said Friday.

“Turkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) is providing 10,000 orphans, widows and needy people with hot meals in the city of Afrin and the town of Jinderes,” IHH coordinator in Afrin Cengizhan Ozdemir told Anadolu Agency.

Food is prepared at the IHH’s coordination center in Turkey’s southern Kilis province, from which it is brought to Afrin and served at local distribution centers.

The IHH has been carrying out aid projects in war-torn Syria since that country’s devastating conflict began in 2011.

Since Afrin’s liberation in March of last year by Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch, the aid agency has distributed hot meals to an estimated one million Syrians.

In January of 2018, Turkey launched the operation with the stated aim of purging Afrin of YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists.

On March 18 of last year, the 58th day of the operation, Turkish troops and the Free Syrian Army liberated the town.