January 15, 2017•Update: January 16, 2017
ANKARA
Turkey’s conduct in the face of Syria’s nearly six-year civil war has served as an exemplary lesson in humanity, said a Turkish Cabinet minister Sunday.
Speaking during an aid campaign in the Turkish capital Ankara for the embattled city of Aleppo, Food, Agriculture and Livestock Minister Faruk Celik said that some countries tried to take advantage of the humanitarian tragedy in Syria.
"But Turkey never thought to profit from the tragedy in Syria. But we served up a lesson in humanity in Syria and we will continue doing so," he said.
Under the campaign, the Agricultural Credit Cooperative sent 100 tons of food aid packages to the war-torn Syrian city.
Turkey hosts some 3 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world. The country has spent around $25 billion helping and sheltering refugees since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.
Turkey and Russia also recently brokered a nationwide cease-fire for Syria, and Turkey has evacuated hundreds of trapped civilians from besieged eastern Aleppo and given wounded civilians treatment in Turkish hospitals.
Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.
*Reporting by Ibrahim Yilmaz; Writing by Burcu Arik
