Turkish council, nationalist group aid Syrian refugees

By Behcet Alkan, Faruk Ozzengin

NEVSEHIR, Turkey (AA) - A municipal council and a Turkish nationalist group announced Wednesday they dispatched trucks loaded with aid to needy Syrians.

The Urgup Municipal Council in central Nevsehir province said it loaded a truck with humanitarian aid for Hatay's Yayladagi district where Syrian Turkmens are sheltered.

In Nevsehir, Alperen Ocaklari, a Turkish nationalist group affiliated with the Grand Unity Party (BBP), loaded a truck full of aid for shipment to the border region, Ali Neseli, a spokesman for the group, told journalists at a ceremony.

The aid will be distributed through the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), said Baki Oncel, a Nevsehir representative of the charity, adding aid shipments will continue until the war ends in Syria.

Turkish organizations and charities collecting and dispatching large amounts of aid have played a major role in the humanitarian crisis caused by the Syrian civil war.

The country has been locked in a devastating conflict since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.