Turkey's Red Crescent chief meets Syriac leader

ISTANBUL

Turkish Red Crescent head Amhmet Lütfi Akar said the aim of the visit was to ‘satisfy the needs of Syriacs and to determine whether they are subjected to harm.’ DHA photo

The head of the Turkish Red Crescent, Ahmet Lütfi Akar, met religious leader Yusuf Çetin July 29 to discuss the conditions of Syriacs who fled Syria to take refuge in Turkey.

Akar visited Syriac Orthodox Church Metropolitan Patriarchal Vicar Filiksinos Yusuf Çetin at the Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district to talk about the Syriacs in Mardin, Midyat and Adıyaman.

“The aim of our visit is to satisfy the needs of Syriacs and to determine whether they are subjected to harm,” Akar told reporters. “We are close with the Syriac Orthodox Church. We are ready to lend a helping hand to the Syriac Orthodox community.”

Çetin congratulated Akar on his work at the Turkish Red Crescent in a speech in which he referenced some Bible passages. Sait Susin, the president of the Meryem Ana Church Foundation, said there were still hundreds of Syriac families waiting for help all over Turkey.

“Unfortunately, Syriacs couldn’t stay at refugee camps before. From now on, they can settle in the camps with the help of our Foreign Ministry,” he said. “We are supporting nearly 500 families. We are getting help from the community and from the Red Crescent.”

Susin added that they were very proud of Turkey’s awareness of the Syrian crisis, a problem which “the West has been insensitive about.”

“The Turkish Red Crescent has difficult responsibilities in this area, which has turned into a fireball. Our demand to bring this fire to an end.” Akar said they were still waiting for a response from the authorities in Egypt to “extend a hand to the victims.”