Turkey gives $1.2 billion in aid

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Local residents gather around an well in Mogadishu Somalia, which is one of the top country’s Turkey gave aid to in 2011.

The official amount of assistance Turkey extended to underdeveloped and developing countries reached $1.2 billion in 2011, an increase of 31.6 percent when compared to 2010.

Turkey recorded the highest increase among OECD countries in its official development assistance amount. Turkey extended a total of $4.3 billion of assistance in the past five years.

In 2011, 46.6 percent of the assistance was extended to Central and South Asia, 23.9 percent to the Middle East, 22 percent to Africa and 6.3 percent to Balkan countries.

Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Palestine were the top 10 countries Turkey extended the most assistance to last year.