Turkey PM’s family funds Syrian aid efforts

Three truckloads of aid paid for by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s family set off for northern Syria on Friday, an official in the prime ministry said.

The food supplies – destined for refugee children – was headed to Idlib province, where Aleppo residents fled following a siege by pro-regime forces. The trucks left a warehouse in Hatay, southern Turkey, early Friday.

Erkan, Bulent and Busra Yildirim financed a similar Turkish Red Crescent convoy to Syria last month, the official said.

To date the Turkish Red Crescent has sent 377 aid trucks carrying flour, tents, pulses, coal, stoves and blankets to relieve Aleppo residents who have fled to opposition-controlled Idlib.

Turkey currently hosts around three million Syrian refugees and has spent around $25 billion sheltering refugees since the beginning of the Syrian war which pits the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad against a broad and disparate collection of Syrian opposition and rebel forces opposed to his continued rule.