First Turkish aircraft with medial supply for IDPs to reach here today.

ISLAMABAD, 24 May, 2009 (Balochistan Times) -- First Turkish military aircraft carrying 10 tones of medical supply as an initial humanitarian assistance for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) will land at the Chaklala Airbase on Monday morning. According to Turkish embassy, the first consignment of the relief goods from Turkey will be handed over to the IDP Special Support Group. Turkey government and the Turkish people have extended their hand to the people of brotherly Pakistan in accordance with the historical and mutual friendship between two nations. The spokesman for Turkish embassy said the medical aid is dispatched by the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) and the Turkish Red Crescent after receiving a list of medical needs of the IDP camps from NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani, Pakistan Red Crescent Society, including its NWFP Branch. Turkish Red Crescent Society Pakistan Project Coordinator and its personnel visited the IDP camps in Swabi and Mardan in the early days of the crises. In order to define the needs at the IDP camps, consultations took place between the members of Turkish Red Crescent and the Pakistani Red Crescent societies. Furthermore, meetings were held with NWFP Social Welfare Minister Sitara Ayaz and other related institutions at the Federal and Provincial level. Turkey has also contacted with the NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani and NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti. Currently, thirteen psycho-social experts from the Pakistani Red Crescent trained by Turkish Red Crescent have been working at Shah Mansoor IDP Camp in Swabi. Turkey has provided financial assistance for three psyco-social experts for five years within a project ran in cooperation with the Pakistani Red Crescent Society. One day after the meeting of international donors chaired by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Turkish President Abdullah Gul called President Asif Ali Zardari and expressed the Turkish peoples solidarity with the people of brotherly Pakistan. People-to-people solidarity between Turkish and Pakistani peoples has been tested throughout the years. Turkish Red Crescent Society has been working in cooperation with the Pakistani Red Crescent since the 2005 earthquake. Turkey has also extended its helping hand to the people of Balochistan after October 2008 earthquake.

(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)