Turkish NGO hosts festival for children in Syria

A Turkish non-governmental organization's project called "Borderless Festival" for Syrian children in the area liberated by Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield began on Sunday.

The International Refugee Rights Association (UMHD) is hosting the festival for the second time for the Syrian children beyond the borders of Turkey. There are over 350,000 school-age children in the area.

As a part of the Borderless Festival, UMHD is organizing street games, movies, shows, workshops and competitions for the war-weary kids.

The 15-day festival will end on Sept. 30, while the last two days of the event will be held in Öncüpınar refugee camp in Turkey's bordering province of Kilis.

The UMHD will also provide stationery that will cover a year's supply of the children's needs.

"We'll visit children in the schools. We will put a smile on their faces with both the stationery aid and the entertainment we have arranged," UMHD head Uğur Yıldırım told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

Operation Euphrates Shield, which began on Aug. 24, 2016, and ended in March 2017, eliminated the terrorist threat along the border in the northern Syrian regions of Jarabulus, Al-Rai, Al-Bab, and Azaz with the use of the Free Syrian Army, backed by Turkish artillery and air cover.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.