Turkey the sole country extending humanitarian assistance to Iraq, Turkish FM says

Turkey is the sole country conducting humanitarian operations for displaced Iraqis fleeing from jihadist groups’ violence in the country, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said.

Humanitarian aid provided by Turkey’s disaster agency AFAD was delivered by helicopters for members of the Yazidi community trapped in the mountains of the Sinjar region due to the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the minister said Aug. 7 in a televised interview.

“Having the experience of Syria, what we want to do is to set up camps in the Kurdish region [of Iraq]. We could not manage that in the Syrian case,” the minister said in reference to plans to erect a camp in the Dohuk region for 20,000 Iraqi Turkmens, which they plan to increase to 40,000 in the future to head off a mass influx of displaced people in Iraq.

The government ordered border governors for necessary measures, the minister said, noting that a number of Yazidis had crossed into Turkey and took shelter with their relatives. “Not a single Yazidi is kept waiting on the Turkish border,” he added.

Elaborating on an unscheduled security meeting held in Ankara on Aug. 7 under his leadership and with the participation of Land Forces Commander Gen. Hulusi Akar, Gendarmerie Forces Commander Gen. Servet Yörük and National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chief Hakan Fidan over jihadist advance in northern Iraq, the minister said the gathering was routine for the coordination of institutions.

“We consider this meeting not an extraordinary gathering but for the coordination of state institutions,” he said.

Despite Turkey’s current aid to the Yazidis, Kurds in northern Syria have long accused Ankara...