TURKISH RED CRESCENT SENDS AID TO IRAQI TURKMENS

28 July 2014 The Turkish Red Crescent has sent two trucks full of aid supplies to Tuz Khormato district in Iraq’s Salahaddin province, north of Baghdad, for Turkmen facing attacks from Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). Dry food, biscuits, diapers, cleaning supplies, beds, blankets and clothes are being distributed under the coordination of Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), the political movement which represents the Turkmen people of Iraq. The Chairman of Iraqi Turkmen Front in Iraqi’s Saladin province Heytem Hasim Muhtaroglu told Anadolu Agency that armed insurgent groups led by ISIL had killed many Turkmen and thousands had fled their homes during the last months in Mosul’s Telefer and Saladin’s Tuz Khormato districts. “Although we are citizens of Iraq the government didn’t help us,” Muhtaroglu said. “So far, we have received aid supplies only from the Turkish Red Crescent,” he added. Since the ISIL attack against Mosul, Turkish Red Crescent has sent 47 trucks full of aid supplies in Iraq, said Iraqi Turkmen Front’s Member of Parliament, Aydin Maruf who took the opportunity to thank the Turkish people. ISIL insurgents captured the city of Mosul on June 10 and soon afterwards took control of a number of other key cities and towns including Tikrit, Tal Afar and Baiji. More than a million people in the region have fled their homes, according to the UN's humanitarian agency. 28 July 2014 Anadolu Agency