- Title: TURKEY: RED CRESCENT SENDS MORE AID TO IRAQ
- Date: 28th October 2003
- Summary: (U4) ANKARA, TURKEY (OCTOBER 28, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF RED CRESCENT PRESS CONFERENCE 0.07 2. SMV PEOPLE LISTENING TO PRESS CONFERENCE 0.12 3. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) HEAD OF TURKISH RED CRESCENT, ERTAN GONEN, SAYING: "This aid convoy we are sending - Iraqi Red Crescent will welcome the convoy on the border and our convoy will go with Iraqis. So, there is no civil war among Iraqis, our trucks are safe as Iraqis provide security for them, and the convoy will head for Kirkuk." 0.41 4. SMV PEOPLE LISTENING TO NEWS CONFERENCE 0.46 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) GONEN SAYING: "We are sending five hundred tents, five thousand blankets, two thousand beds, five hundred gas heaters, five hundred cleaning sets and five hundred food packages, worth one hundred twenty two thousand and five hundred US dollars". 1.11 6. WIDE OF TRUCK CONVOY AWAITING DEPARTURE 1.17 7. VARIOUS OF GONEN PARTING FROM RED CRESCENT CREW 1.25 8. SLV RED CRESCENT PERSONNEL BOARDING TRUCKS 1.32 9. SLV TRUCKS WITH RED CRESCENT SIGNS DRIVING AWAY 1.45 10. SLV PEOPLE WAVING FAREWELL 1.52 11. PAN TO MORE OF RED CRESCENT TRUCKS DRIVING PASS 1.55 12. SMV OF PEOPLE WAVING FAREWELL 2.01 13. VARIOUS OF TRUCKS DRIVING AWAY 2.28 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 12th November 2003 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ANKARA, TURKEY
- Country: Turkey
- Reuters ID: LVA1DU18NFNXUNE2E108KU8ZMPAN
- Story Text: Turkish Red Crescent sends more aid to Iraq
Six Red Crescent trucks packed with essential
medical and food supplies departed the Turkish capital of
Ankara Tuesday (October 28) for Iraq.
Ahead of departure, Ertan Gonen, head of Red Crescent
in Turkey held a press conference where he reassured the
safety of the convoy. Gonen said trucks which are heading
for the Northern oil rich city of Kirkuk would be welcomed
and escorted by Iraqi officials from the Northern border.
"There is no civil war among Iraqis. Our trucks are
safe as Iraqis provide security for them, and the convoy
will head for Kirkuk," Gonen told reporters.
The aid is the second of a total of six aid convoys
planned for Iraq from the Turkish Red Crescent.
The aid came just a few days after Iraq's foreign said
it was looking increasingly unlikely that Turkey would send
troops to Iraq after Baghdad voiced its opposition.
Iraqi Kurds in northern Iraq are particularly hostile
to Turkey. They accuse Ankara of trying to stir up ethnic
tensions between them and the Turkmen minority in Iraq and
stifle the Kurds' federal ambitions.
The aid came a day after the attack on the ICRC
organisation, whose avowed mission is to help victims of
war and never take sides.
Monday's attack on the ICRC headquarters killed 10 to
12 people, who were among the 40 killed in a series of
bombings throughout the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
Indications showed that a Red Cross or Red Crescent
ambulance smashed into an outer wall of the ICRC building.
Geneva-based ICRC cut its foreign staff from more than
100 to about 30 after a Sri Lankan technician was shot dead
in July and a suicide attack on U.N. headquarters in
Baghdad in August killed 22 people, including U.N. envoy
Sergio Vieira de Mello.
The ICRC said it had not made any decision on
evacuating remaining international staff from Baghdad.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the attack on
the ICRC headquarters in Baghdad was "a crime against
humanity".
er/ab
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
