Turkish Red Crescent sends $700M in aid to Syria

The Turkish Red Crescent has revealed the total amount of humanitarian assistance it has sent to Syria during the country’s civil war.

Speaking in Istanbul late on Sunday, Turkish Red Crescent president Kerem Kınık said the organization had given nearly 2.5 billion Turkish liras’ worth (around $710 million) of aid.

“Around 40,000 truckloads of aid material has reached millions of Syrians struggling for their lives under the shadow of conflict,” Kınık told a fast-breaking iftar gathering.

The organization -- known locally as Kızılay -- also distributes aid to three million refugees in Turkey and over six million people inside Syria, according to Kınık.

As part of a social orientation program, it also offers 820,000 Syrian people in Turkey regular financial support through Kızılay debit cards, which allow them to purchase essential goods.

Turkey hosts over three million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world. It has spent $25 billion in sheltering refugees since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.

Syria has been locked in a devastating conflict since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.