Turkey welcomes the extension of cross-border UN humanitarian aid deliveries to Syria for one more year, the country’s Foreign Ministry said early Monday.
“The UN mechanism in question plays a vital role in providing around 2.8 million vulnerable people in northwestern Syria with humanitarian aid,” the ministry said in a statement.
STATEMENT SIGNALED COOPERATION WITH UN
“In this respect, it is seen as important to maintain the mechanism even though it is reduced to one border gate,” it said, referring to the adoption of an extension of the UN Security Council’s authorization in cross-border aid to Syria on July 11.
It noted that excluding the route from the mechanism will make it harder to provide around 1.3 million civilians in Syria’s Aleppo region with humanitarian aid as well as increasing the responsibility Turkey has undertaken since the start of the civil war in neighboring Syria.
“In this context, Turkey will continue to show efforts to maintain humanitarian aid activities to Syria without a halt,” it said, adding the country will coordinate and cooperate with the UN and the related institutions to overcome the additional challenges that will be caused by the change in the mechanism.