Refugees to get Turkish Red Crescent debit cards

By Murat Paksoy

ISTANBUL

The Turkish Red Crescent has started accepting applications for its special debit cards for refugees, known as the Kizilay Card, which is being financed by the European Union.

The EU Humanitarian Aid Commission allotted €348 million ($375 million) for refugees in Turkey as part of the bloc’s Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) humanitarian assistance program partnered by the World Food Program, the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Policy, and the Directorate of Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD), the Turkish Red Crescent said in a statement Tuesday.

According to the statement, each refugee registered by the regional migration office directorate will be given 100 Turkish liras ($28.5) per month.

The debit cards will enable refugees to shop via the Turkish Halkbank POS machines and withdraw money from ATMs from January 2017.

Turkish Red Crescent President Kerem Kinik said the assistance program was EU's largest ever-humanitarian program. "The humanitarian aid will reach a million refugees. The financial aid provided now and later will all be financed by the EU. Turkey will only help in distributing the aid; it will not contribute to the aid," Kinik said.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Red Crescent sent humanitarian assistance, including food, clothes and blankets to 2,500 people in Mosul's Tal Yara Village.

Safak Lostar, the Turkish Red Crescent’s coordinator in Iraq, told Anadolu Agency that the organization had so far helped almost 70,000 people since the operation to liberate Mosul from the Daesh terrorist group began on Oct. 17.