The Syrian civil war, which kicked off in March 2011, has claimed at least 273,000 lives including a large number of civilians. Over the past six years, thirteen out of 20 million Syrian citizens have become dependent on humanitarian assistance. While the conflict displaced 6.6 million Syrians, approximately 4.8 million people took refuge in neighbouring countries.
Having adopted an open door policy toward Syrian refugees in 2011, Turkey continues to present Syrian war victims with an opportunity to get their lives back on track. All Syrian refugees continue to enjoy free healthcare, as hundreds of thousands of Syrian children resume their education in Turkey.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, which has been coordinating the country’s response to the humanitarian crisis, houses close to 260,000 Syrian nationals in 26 temporary housing facilities equipped with schools, hospitals and athletic facilities. In addition to addressing residents’ basic needs, AFAD encourages the refugee community to participate in camp management through elections and heals the wounds of war by providing professional training to residents.
Since 2011, Turkey allocated at least $12 billion to humanitarian relief efforts, whereas the international community’s contributions remain at $512 million.
Syrian children back in schools
Education of the Syrian children, who have taken refuge in Turkey, has always been top priority. 80 thousand children have been reintroduced to schools in AFAD sheltering centres.
510,000 children in total were provided with the opportunity to continue their education, in consequence of the steps taken with the cooperation of Ministry of National Education. The works for reaching all Syrian children in Turkey are continuing uninterruptedly.
Free of Charge Healthcare Services
Turkey provides free of charge healthcare services and medicines to all registered Syrians in the country.
Within the scope of the health services rendered to Syrian nationals, 780 thousand operations have been carried out, 20.2 million outpatient services have been rendered, and 940 thousand hospital patients were treated.
178 thousand Syrian babies have been born in Turkey.
Early marriage and polygamy awareness trainings are given to young girls through Women's Committees at sheltering centres.
Vocational Training
Nearly 150 thousand Syrians have acquired professions through various certificate programs in AFAD refuge centres, such as on foreign languages, using computer and carpet weaving.
The Best Public Services' in the World
AFAD coordinates the services rendered to thousands of people in the sheltering centres through the Disaster Temporary City Management System (AFKEN).
AFKEN won the 'Best Public Services” in 2015 given by United Nations.
Most Generous Country - Turkey
According to the Global Humanitarian Aid Report, Turkey is the 2nd largest contributor to humanitarian relief and “the most generous country” in the world.
Turkey's humanitarian assistance reached $3.2 billion from $1.6 billion in 2014 and the country's increased international aid efforts granted it the third place for the third consecutive year starting in 2013 in the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report. Turkey gave the most humanitarian assistance as a percentage of gross national income at 0.37 percent the report shows, and it was followed by Kuwait and United Arab Emirates at 0.33 and 0.25 percent respectively.
The report shows the international humanitarian assistance in total reached $28 billion last year from $25.1 billion in 2014. Turkey's humanitarian assistance makes up 11 percent of the total aid.