President Erdoğan praises Turkish aid agency’s efforts for poor

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday praised the efforts of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).

"We want the Syrian people to live in peace on their own land," Erdoğan said at the meeting of coordinators of the state-run aid group in capital Ankara.

"This is why TIKA exists…We want the people to build themselves a new future, leaving behind their bad days that they had been living for seven years, nonstop."

He said Turkey remains determined to confront destructive organizations by providing "re-incarnation, construction and ascension" in Syria.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since March 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

According to UN officials, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.

"The sincere attitude of our country in terms of development assistance has also attracted the attention of international organizations," Erdoğan said.

The president added Turkey has particularly taken interest in 47 underdeveloped countries to provide aid, and that over $2 million of aid was made to these countries between 2008 and 2015.

"We have shown respect to history with our restoration projects. In just the last 3 years, we have launched over 100 restorations in 18 different countries in 3 different continents, " he said.

Also, speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said: "We should proudly say that we only had 12 offices abroad in 2002. Today, development and cooperation activities are being carried out in 170 countries with 60 offices in 58 countries. An average of 2,000 projects are carried out annually."