DHAKA, Bangladesh
A Turkish relief association donated Thursday food packages in Bangladesh for 1,000 needy families.
The food items provided by Yardimeli International Humanitarian Aid Association were handed over to the authorities of a Bangladeshi educational institute Chittagong Grammar School-Dhaka (CGSD).
The aid will be delivered to the needy families whose kids are attending the CGSD Community School in the capital Dhaka and the southern port city of Chittagong.
“This is the second time our embassy is providing food to underprivileged families in Bangladesh during the holy month of Ramadan,” said Mustafa Osman Turan, Turkey’s ambassador in Dhaka, while addressing the handover ceremony.
In total, 4,000 families have been supported in these difficult times of pandemic, he added.
On April 23, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, Turkish Red Crescent and Turkiye Diyanet Foundation donated food packages to 3,000 deprived families in Dhaka through Dhaka North City Corporation.
On April 29, TIKA also donated 5,000 personal care packages for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s camps in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar.
“Turkey will continue to stand by the government and the people of Bangladesh as always,” Turan said.
Underlining the hardships the deprived people in Bangladesh face, he added: “We know it is the poor and the underprivileged who have been hit hardest by this health and economic crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The CGSD authorities expressed gratitude to the Turkish government for their continued assistance to Bangladeshi distressed people as well as destitute worldwide during the prevailing lethal pandemic.
“1,000 deprived families will greatly benefit from these basic food items -- rice, cooking oil, gram pulses, etc. -- during this period and we are grateful to the Turkish government for the help,” Asia Alam Chowdhury, head of CGSD, told Anadolu Agency.
The South Asian nation has so far confirmed 12,425 infections, with the death toll at 186. It has conducted 105,511 tests.
A total of 1,910 people have recovered from the disease, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
