Turkey provided official development assistance worth $21 billion to 170 countries from 2010 to 2016, according to data from the state development aid agency.
The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) said 62 percent of the country’s development aid was provided to Syria, while Africa, the central Asian Turkic republics, and Balkan countries received 9.54 percent, 5.44 percent and 4.3 percent respectively.
In the same period, Turkey provided $13.66 billion of official development assistance – including $5.85 billion in the last year alone – to civilians in war-torn Syria.
In Central Asia, from 2010 to 2016 Turkey gave aid to Kyrgyzstan ($603.4 million), Kazakhstan ($281 million), Azerbaijan ($157 million), Turkmenistan ($79.4 million), Uzbekistan ($47.4 million), and Tajikistan ($24 million).
During those six years Turkey also supported Somalia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia and Iraq with around $2.5 billion.
The countries that received most of Turkey’s bilateral official development assistance in 2016 were Syria, Somalia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Niger.
Last year, Turkey also donated funds to regional development agencies ($203 million), the United Nations ($35 million), and the World Bank ($12 million).
Turkey had carried out over 70 projects in East Jerusalem and the West Bank since 2005, Deputy Prime Minister Hakan Çavuşoğlu said last week.
Over the last 15 years the Overseas Turks and Relative Communities Presidency (YTB) has supported a total of 89,000 Palestinians studying in Turkey, he added.
Official development assistance is defined as government aid designed to promote developing countries’ economic development and welfare.
TİKA, established by Turkey in 1992, works in more than 170 countries.
Turkey’s official development aid reached nearly $6.5 billion in 2016, jumping from just $85 million in 2002. (HÜRRİYETDAILYNEWS)
