Turkey supports 170 countries with development aid

By Bahattin Gonultas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey provided official development assistance (ODA) worth $21 billion to 170 countries from 2010 to 2016, according to data from Turkey’s state development aid agency.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) said 62 percent of Turkey’s ODA was provided to Syria, while Africa, the central Asian Turkic republics, and Balkan countries received 9.54 percent, 5.44 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.

In that same period, Turkey provided $13.66 billion of ODA -- including $5.85 billion in the last year alone -- to civilians in the civil war-torn nation of Syria.

In central Asia, in 2010-2016 Turkey gave ODA to Kyrgyzstan ($603.4 million), Kazakhstan ($281 million), Azerbaijan ($157 million), Turkmenistan ($79.4 million), Uzbekistan ($47.4 million), and Tajikistan (24 million).

During these six years, Turkey also supported Somalia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia, and Iraq with around $2.5 billion.

The countries that received most of Turkey's bilateral official development assistance in 2016 were Syria, Somalia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Niger.

Last year, Turkey also donated funds to regional development agencies ($203 million), the United Nations ($35 million), and the World Bank ($12 million).

ODA is defined as government aid designed to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries.

Focusing on development cooperation, TIKA -- established by Turkey in 1992 -- works in more than 170 countries.

Turkey's official development aid reached nearly $6.5 billion in 2016, jumping from just $85 million in 2002.