The European Commission is giving € 3.9
million in humanitarian funding to help meet the urgent needs of the
thousands of people who have fled to Turkey in recent weeks to escape
the fighting in the Syrian town of Kobane.
“Over 180 000 Syrians have been displaced to
Turkey by the fierce fighting in Kobane. This further adds to the
impact of what is the biggest humanitarian crisis of our times. We are
directing urgently needed funds to help the humanitarian organizations
on the ground deal with the massive influx of refugees,” said Kristalina
Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid
and Crisis Response.
This funding will help humanitarian
organizations provide clean water, shelter and medicine to refugees, as
well as ensure sanitation and food services.
It is part of the European Commission's €150
million humanitarian aid budget for the Syrian crisis in 2014. Jointly,
the European Union continues to lead the international response to the
crisis with nearly €3 billion of funding, mobilised by the Commission
and Member States collectively in humanitarian, development, economic
and stabilisation assistance so far.
Background...
The town of Kobane near the Turkish border has
been the target of ISIL fighters for the past three weeks. This is the
biggest influx of Syrian refugees to Turkey since the beginning of the
crisis over three years ago. The European Commission has been stepping
up its assistance to help meet the needs of more than a million refugees
seeking shelter in Turkey, those from Syria as well as Iraq, by
increasing its humanitarian funding from the initially foreseen € 3.5 million to € 8.5 million in 2014.
