Turkey sends humanitarian aid to Lebanon

MERSİN

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) is sending humanitarian aid to Lebanon, which is experiencing an economic crisis.

The first batch of the 524 tons of aid, which included baby formula and food, has been dispatched on a ship from the Turkish port of Mersin on the Mediterranean coast.

Some 15 truckloads of aid material, collected under the coordination of AFAD, is now on its own way to Lebanon, the relief agency said in a statement.

Another 18 trucks will be sent to the country this week, AFAD added.
According to the relief agency, another 1,000 tons of aid, including flour and food, will be delivered to Lebanon with a “Kindness Ship” before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Aid efforts for Lebanon will continue throughout the year, Deputy Interior Minister İsmail Çataklı said, speaking at the ceremony held at Mersin’s Taşucu port.

“Lebanon has been going through difficult times and experiencing a humanitarian crisis due to the developments in Syria, its domestic problems, an explosion at a port in Lebanon and on top all this the [COVID-19] pandemic,” Çataklı noted.

He recalled that Turkey’s relief efforts in Lebanon date back to 2008 when Turkey set up a health center there and reached out to the country after the explosion at the port.

Turkish non-governmental organizations will also support relief efforts in Lebanon, Çataklı added.

AFAD has been sending aid to countries that are facing a humanitarian crisis. It has dispatched what it dubs “Kindness Train” to Afghanistan. Recently, it sent aid to the people affected by the war in Ukraine.