Turkish Red Crescent helps orphans in N.Iraq

ERBIL

The Turkish Red Crescent handed out winter humanitarian aid packs to at least 150 orphans and their families in a refugee camp in northern Iraq on Nov. 26.

Hakan Karaçay, Turkey’s consul in Erbil, told state-run Anadolu Agency that they distributed winter clothes and food aid packages to 155 orphans and their families living in the Bahirka camp near Erbil thanks to the cooperation between the Turkish Red Crescent and its Erbil branch.

Karaçay added that Turkey should be proud of its humanitarian aid efforts, as Turkey is the world’s most generous country in terms of humanitarian support.

Many civilians had to take shelter in Iraq’s Erbil and Duhok provinces after the ISIL occupied Mosul in 2014.

After fleeing ISIL-occupied areas in Iraq, the refugees have been trying to survive in the camps humanitarian aid support for some four years.

Last week, the Red Crescent sent nine truckloads of aid to improve the living conditions of refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina with winter approaching.

The aid included 22 group tents measuring 105 square meters, 229 shelter tents of various sizes, 10,000 blankets, 1,000 kitchen sets, and two mobile kitchens.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has found itself in the middle of a migrant crisis, with the government decrying a lack of funds.

After the Balkan route -through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, and Hungary or Croatia- was closed to refugees in March 2016, many migrants chose Bosnia-Herzegovina as an alternate route.

According to the latest figures, nearly 20,000 asylum seekers have entered Bosnia and Herzegovina since the beginning of the year.