EU announces €700M aid for refugees in Turkey

By Ata Ufuk Seker

BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Union approved two major humanitarian aid projects to help refugees in Turkey, the bloc announced Monday.

The European Commission approved 700 million euro ($824 million) worth of projects, which focus on providing monthly transfers on a special debit card for refugees.

A total of 650 million euro will go to a special debit card for refugees implemented by Kizilay, the Turkish Red Crescent working together with the UN’s World Food Programme, according to a statement from the bloc.

“The program already supports more than 1.1 million refugees and will continue until the end of January 2019," the statement added.

Another 50 million euros will go to the support refugee children’s education.

"A further 50 million euros will boost the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education (CCTE) project implemented by UNICEF,” the statement added.

Under the program, each refugee registered by the regional migration office can receive 120 Turkish liras (around $31) a month.

Ankara and the EU reached a deal in 2016 aimed at discouraging irregular migration to Europe through the Aegean Sea and it included a €6 billion ($6.9 billion) aid package to help Turkey care for millions of refugees hosted in the country.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting and more than 10 million displaced, according to the UN.

Turkey hosts 3.2 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world.