Today the European Commission announced the first projects under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey, pledging €55 million to address the immediate needs of Syrian school-children in Turkey for access to formal education, and €40 million in humanitarian aid through the World Food Programme (WFP) working in close cooperation with the Turkish Red Crescent.
Visiting refugees camps in south-east Turkey in the provinces of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, said: ”Children of Syrian refugees in Turkey need access to formal education so that they can hope to build a normal life in the future. Education is an absolute priority and a human obligation for us all. The new funding of €55 million announced today will help bridge existing gaps and put 110.000 Syrian kids into schools, on top of the 200.000 schoolchildren the EU already supports. This will complement the commendable efforts of the Turkish authorities to provide education to refugees”.
Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, stated: “We have been providing humanitarian aid to refugees in Turkey since the beginning of the crisis and the new Refugee Facility allows us to deliver more and better aid. The new €40 million in humanitarian aid we are providing to the World Food Programme will help to reach 735 000 Syrian refugees with food aid”.
