Turkey Archives - World Food Program USA

CAIRO/ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has stepped up its emergency response to support earthquake survivors in Syria and Türkiye, providing emergency food assistance to nearly half a million quake-affected people in the two countries through hot meals, ready-to-eat food packages and family food rations.

U.N. World Food Programme teams in the two countries are delivering immediate relief in the affected areas and at the same time assessing needs and supporting logistics efforts. Because the U.N. World Food Programme has ongoing operations in both countries, it has partners, staff and a robust supply chain in place. This means the U.N. World Food Programme could respond to food needs within the first hours of the disaster.

“Families tell me they left everything behind when the earthquake hit, running for their lives. The U.N. World Food Programme’s food is a lifeline for them. While they think about their next steps in the destruction left by the earthquake, their children can eat,” said Corinne Fleischer, U.N. World Food Programme regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. “We have scaled up rapidly and requests for more food are coming every day from cities and communities. We are there for them, but the U.N. World Food Programme can’t do it alone. We urgently appeal for funding to help us reach those in need.”

In Syria, in addition to providing immediate food assistance in quake-affected cities, the U.N. World Food Programme has resumed its regular general food assistance for 5.5 million people every month following a brief pause after the earthquakes. This includes regular monthly assistance, either in-kind or cash-based, to 1.4 million people in non-government-controlled areas of the northwest.

Between February 13 – 16, 52 U.N. World Food Programme-contracted trucks crossed into northwest Syria through Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam.

With humanitarian access expanded through the opening of two additional border crossing points from Türkiye to northwest Syria, the U.N. World Food Programme plans to use all three Turkish-Syrian border crossings, Bab al-Hawa, Bab al-Salam and Al Ra’ee, to ensure a constant reach of aid to non-government-controlled areas of northwest Syria.

Prior to the earthquake, food insecurity and poverty in Syria were already at alarming rates with a population suffering the effects of 12 years of conflict and successive shocks. Over 12 million people across the country were categorized as food insecure, including 2.5 million people severely food insecure. In addition, 2.9 million were at risk of slipping into food insecurity.

The Syrian economy is too fragile to withstand external shocks and the earthquake-affected cities of Syria have been severely impacted by the conflict. In northwest Syria, 90% of the population, 4.1 million people, were already relying on humanitarian assistance prior to the earthquake.

“We rely on the international donor community to stand up for Syrians, otherwise, the February 6 earthquakes will turn an already dire situation into an unbearable scenario for millions of people,” says U.N. World Food Programme Representative and Country Director in Syria Kenn Crossley. “No population can face this alone after years of conflict, a pandemic and catastrophic economic decline.”

The U.N. World Food Programme is appealing for $80 million to provide assistance through hot meals, ready-to-eat meals, vouchers and cash.

The U.N. World Food Programme is also appealing for funding for both the earthquake affected population and the millions of people in Syria that receive the agency’s lifesaving food assistance every month. The U.N. World Food Programme urgently requires a minimum of $386 million to maintain its regular emergency assistance program across all of Syria.

Without sufficient resources, the U.N. World Food Programme will be forced to dramatically reduce up to 70% of the people it assists in Syria from July onwards.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

ANKARA/DAMASCUS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered urgently needed food assistance to 115,000 people in Syria and Türkiye in the first four days since deadly earthquakes struck the region, killing thousands and forcing tens of thousands into the freezing outside temperatures. Distributions are ongoing.

“We’re providing mainly hot meals, ready-to-eat food rations and family food packages — things that require no cooking facilities and can be consumed immediately,” said U.N. World Food Programme Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Corinne Fleischer. “For the thousands of people affected by the earthquakes, food is one of the top needs right now and our priority is to get it to the people who need it fast.”

The U.N. World Food Programme is appealing for $77 million to provide assistance for a total of 874,000 quake-affected people in Türkiye and Syria. This includes 284,000 newly displaced people in Syria and 590,000 people in Türkiye, which includes 45,000 refugees and 545,000 internally displaced people.

Operational Updates for Syria and Türkiye

Syria

The U.N. World Food Programme has reached a total of 43,000 people in Syria with hot meals and ready-to-eat meals. Thanks to prepositioned food inside the country, the U.N. World Food Programme has enough ready-to-eat meals for 100,000 people and enough stock of family rations to cover the needs of 1.4 million people for one month – the latter require cooking facilities and are ready for distribution.
In northwest Syria, through U.N. World Food Programme partners, around 23,850 affected people received ready-to-eat meals that last for one week. In Aleppo, 5,000 affected people received ready-to-eat meals through partners, 6,000 people received hot meals for the fourth day running and 4,000 children received sandwiches at temporary shelters over the past 48 hours.
In Tartous and Lattakia governorates, 1,500 affected people received ready-to-eat meals and 1,650 people at temporary shelters received sandwiches.
In Hama, U.N. World Food Programme partners distributed RTEs to support 1,020 displaced people for one week.

Türkiye

In Türkiye, the U.N. World Food Programme is providing a total of 73,000 refugees and people displaced by the earthquakes with family food baskets that cover their food needs for one week.
On February 9, the U.N. World Food Programme delivered food baskets to Osmaniye Cevdetiye camp for 18,000 quake-affected displaced Turks and Syrian refugees. The U.N. World Food Programme has delivered additional family food rations enough for 54,000 people in camps in Adana, Hatay, Kilis and Kahramanmaraş.
U.N. World Food Programme teams are delivering food to support cities in southeast Türkiye in expanding soup kitchens that are providing daily cooked meals for quake-affected people. The food will be used to prepare cooked meals through community kitchens to be distributed daily for 2 weeks to around 200,000 quake-affected people in four provinces: Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis and Kahramanmaraş.
The U.N. World Food Programme will increase its assistance to Syrian refugees as well as provide food rations for Turkish citizens displaced by the quakes and sheltering in temporary accommodation camps.
Refugees are normally assisted through electronic vouchers, but the assistance will be switched to food packages as supermarkets are now unable to accept vouchers. The U.N. World Food Programme will continue to review its response plan, as needs arise.

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About the United Nations World Food Programme
The U.N. World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

ANKARA/DAMASCUS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is on the ground responding to the devastating impact of the two earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria on Monday. U.N. World Food Programme food assistance has been underway since Tuesday with plans to reach half a million people in both countries.

As of Wednesday morning, the U.N. World Food Programme had reached nearly 64,000 people in urgent need of food assistance, providing ready-to-eat meals, family food packages and hot meals. The food being distributed requires no cooking and provides immediate relief for families whose precarious position is made worse by freezing temperatures.

In southeast Türkiye – the area closest to the quakes’ epicenter – the U.N. World Food Programme is coordinating with authorities to provide family food packages to people in temporary camps. The camps already house around 44,000 Syrians under temporary protection and now include newly displaced Turkish nationals. The U.N. World Food Programme is delivering family food packages to 16,400 affected people in Osmaniye Cevdetiye camp, east of the epicenter.

In areas where supermarkets and supply chains are struggling because of damaged infrastructure, the U.N. World Food Programme will provide family food packages to Turkish nationals for 1-2 weeks while services stabilize.

The U.N. World Food Programme will also support municipalities in the southeast to reactivate and expand soup kitchens set-up during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide daily hot meals to quake-affected families. The U.N. World Food Programme is working closely with the Turkish Red Crescent and partners.

In Syria, the U.N. World Food Programme and its local partners have delivered ready-to-eat meals and daily hot meals to 38,000 affected people in shelters.

“The world woke up to devastating news on Monday. A region plagued by years of compounding crises, faces yet another one, with unimaginable loss and destruction. Immediate relief cannot be delayed,” said U.N. World Food Programme Regional Director in the Middle East, Northern Africa and Eastern Europe Corinne Fleischer. “The U.N. World Food Programme’s strong footprint in both countries enabled us to immediately mobilize our staff, logistics capacity and partners to respond to people’s most immediate food needs.”

In northwest Syria, the quakes have further complicated an acute humanitarian crisis, in which 4.1 million people – or 90% of the population – already depend on humanitarian assistance. Of these, close to 3 million people have been displaced by conflict – often more than once – and despite the freezing temperatures still live in tents, makeshift shelters, or abandoned buildings.

The U.N. World Food Programme has enough ready-to-eat food inside northwest Syria to assist 125,000 people and is providing this to local partners. The U.N. World Food Programme has already provided partners with food for 30,000 people. Millions of Syrians depend on United Nations cross-border assistance from Turkey, which is enabled by a Security Council resolution.

“The U.N. World Food Programme continues to appeal for unimpeded access to northwest Syria – now more than ever – when humanitarian assistance is urgently needed to reach those affected by the quake. Nature has sadly affected those who already had to face years of compounded suffering and displacement,” added Fleischer.

Each month, the U.N. World Food Programme assists 5.5 million people across all of Syria. However, the program is now only 30% funded and the U.N. World Food Programme faces the prospect of cutting up to 70% of the beneficiaries from July onwards should additional funding not materialize on time.

The U.N. World Food Programme is committed to working with its partners to bring lifesaving assistance to families affected by the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria. To meet the urgent food needs, the U.N. World Food Programme is appealing for $46 million for a total of 500,000 people in Türkiye and Syria. This includes hot meals and food rations to 200,000 newly displaced people in Syria and 300,000 people in Türkiye, including 70,000 refugees.

The U.N. World Food Programme mourns all the lives lost in this tragedy, including one of its own staff members.

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Our hearts go out to those in Türkiye and Syria who were impacted by the devastating earthquakes that struck on Monday where, as of this morning, more than 2,300 people have been killed and thousands injured. We are deeply saddened by the devastation and loss. We are closely monitoring the unfolding situation and stand ready to support the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)’s emergency response.

The U.N. World Food Programme has operated in Türkiye and Syria for years and will continue to provide unconditional food assistance to vulnerable groups during the disaster recovery.

In Syria, the U.N. World Food Programme has been active since 1964, scaling operations in 2011 in response to the civil war. The U.N. World Food Programme distributes lifesaving food to 5.6 million people in Syria every month. This assistance includes 1.3 million people in the northwest via the cross-border operation from Türkiye.

The U.N. World Food Programme re-established a presence in Türkiye in 2012, in response to the Syrian crisis. With the government of Türkiye and humanitarian partners, the U.N. World Food Programme helps refugees meet their basic needs. Türkiye hosts the largest refugee population in the world with 3.6 million Syrian refugees.

We stand committed to the people of Türkiye and Syria and will do everything we can to reach vulnerable families in their time of great need. But we can’t do it without the support of donors. Please join us as we work to feed millions of vulnerable people.

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About World Food Program USA
World Food Program USA, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, DC, proudly supports the mission of the United Nations World Food Programme by mobilizing American policymakers, businesses and individuals to advance the global movement to end hunger. To learn more about World Food Program USA’s mission, please visit wfpusa.org/mission-history.

Media Contact:
Toula Athas
Director, Communications
tathas@wfpusa.org
202-627-3940

ANKARA – As Syria enters its 10th year of conflict, which has forced more than 5.6 million people to flee their country, a survey of a major WFP cash assistance program in Turkey indicates that European Union-funded support has helped prevent 1.7 million vulnerable refugees – mostly Syrians – from falling deeper into poverty.

Families receiving assistance have been better able to cover their basic needs, are less likely to have children helping earn money to put food on the table, and were able to eat a reasonable diet, according to sample groups of refugees interviewed as part of WFP monitoring.

WFP and the European Union (EU) joined forces in late 2016 with the Turkish government and the Turkish Red Crescent to launch the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN), a program which provides monthly cash allowances to the most vulnerable refugees.

“We know how important this assistance is to families,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. “Parents have been able to give their children a roof over their heads and nutritious food to eat. It’s given families some financial stability so they can start rebuilding their lives after the trauma of war. The support provided is a demonstration of the power of partnerships.”

Turkey has taken more Syrian refugees than any other country. Of the approximately 4 million refugees in Turkey, some 3.6 million are from Syria. With work opportunities being scarce, many families have struggled to make ends meet.

The ESSN is the biggest humanitarian project the EU has ever funded, with WFP receiving $1.48 billion since 2016. It is also one of the largest humanitarian cash program ever mounted by the United Nations.

EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič said: “The European Union, together with its humanitarian partners, is continuing to make a real difference in refugees’ life in Turkey. They have a chance to get back to normality after fleeing atrocities and meet their basic needs, such as rent or food. I want to thank WFP and other partners for having developed this ground-breaking program.”

Thanks to the ESSN, each member of an eligible family receives the equivalent of $22 per month, plus quarterly top-ups according to family size. The money is loaded every month onto a special debit card – families can either withdraw the money at an ATM or use the card to pay in shops.

The refugees can spend the money on whatever they need. Studies show that the 1.7 million refugees mostly spend it on rent, utilities, food and other household supplies.

According to surveys of families, their lives improved or stabilized after they started receiving the monthly cash.

The percentage of people saying they were able to cover all their basic needs went up from one in four to one in two between May 2017 and September 2019. Over the same period, the proportion of families in which children had to work to help bring in money dropped by almost half. There was a corresponding reduction in the tendency of families to pull their children out of school. At the same time, the percentage of families saying they had been forced to cut back on health spending fell by a third.

Meanwhile, data on eating habits showed that, despite economic difficulties and rising prices in late 2018 and early 2019, almost all families receiving ESSN support (97 percent) have managed to maintain an adequately nutritious and diverse diet.

“The assistance card has helped us in many ways this winter, such as heating and buying clothes for the children and for ourselves,” said Amira, a Syrian woman living in Turkey with her husband and three children. “It has also helped us in buying clothes during the summer as well as getting vegetables, food and milk for the children from the market. The card has helped us in many things. Our life will be better as long as it exists.”

Since its launch, the ESSN has been implemented by WFP, working with the Turkish Red Crescent, and with critical support from the Turkish Government. WFP will step down in April, handing over its responsibilities to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The program was scaled up rapidly, going from zero to a million participants within the first year, because it was built on existing Turkish institutions and aid platforms rather than setting up new infrastructure.

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About WFP | The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, natural disasters and the impact of climate change.