Barzani Charity Foundation serves stranded Turkish, Kurdish drivers

ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) has served food for about 11,000 Turkish and Kurdish drivers stranded in the Kurdistan Region during the three-week long closure of the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey, a BCF official told K24.
Ibrahim Sameen, BCF spokesman in Erbil, told K24 on Tuesday that the humanitarian foundation has served food for about 11,000 Turkish and Kurdish drivers three times a day for a week. "The border crossing closure was an emergency situation, and our moral duty is to serve in such situations and render the necessary aid," Mr. Sameen said.
"We have organized an efficient program in serving food three times a day as well as offering temporary accommodation during the closure period. For food service, we could offer it for a week because we had other duties and obligations towards thousands of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kurdistan," Mr. Sameen added.
Mr. Sameen further explained that BCF “provides social, cultural and humanitarian services to all parts of the society for the sake of improving the overall living conditions in Kurdistan."
“We also strive to be a global advocate for humanitarianism, ethnic and religious tolerance, and to be part of the global community in creating a sustainable future for our next generations to come," Mr. Sameen said.
On December 14, 2015, Turkey closed the international border crossing of Ibrahim Khalil. It remained closed for about three weeks and reopened on Tuesday.
Registered in 2005 as a non-profit organization, the Barzani Charity Foundation provides social, cultural, and humanitarian aid to all peoples of Kurdistan, especially to socio-economically disadvantaged members of society, refugees, and IDPs.
In 2013, the BCF was the first organization to provide immediate humanitarian relief to Syrian Kurdish refugees that entered the Kurdistan Region in the thousands, after KRG President Masoud Barzani ordered the opening of the Peshkhabur border between Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) and the Kurdistan Region, against the will of the central government in Baghdad.