EU support for 240000 Syrian refugees in Turkey

9/11/2015 5:05:30 AM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The EU is to give 17.5 million euros ($19.7 million)towards food and schooling for Syrian refugees in Turkey the European Commission has announced.

The bulk of the money -12.5 million euros -will go towards educating around 200000 Syrian children in Arabic while the remainder will provide food vouchers for 41000 living in three refugee camps in Turkey.

“Syria's neighbors are giving an impressive contribution to hosting and welcoming those who flee from the war” EU foreign affairs representative FedericaMogherini said in a statement.

She added: “Syria is losing a whole generation to war and exile. A pen and a book can give hope to Syrian children. They are the best weapon against hatred and radicalization. They can give a future to a whole country.”

The donation is the first payment from the recently established EU Regional Trust Fund.

Johannes Hahn the EU’s enlargement commissioner said: “Our responsibility is to support Turkey in its huge task of hosting some 2 million Syrian refugees.

“As we are now witnessing on a daily basis the conflict in Syria has direct consequences for Europe. We need to help the refugees both in Europebut equally important in the countries around Syria who are shouldering the bulk of the burden.”

According to recent UN figures there were 1.9 million Syrian refugees at the end of August. More than 250000 people have been killed since the conflict four years ago.

Around half of Syria’s population has been displaced by the violence with more than 4 millionSyrians now seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

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