Turkish nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have mobilized to boost humanitarian aid to disadvantaged communities around the world as Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of compassion and mutual understanding, continues.

Charities based in Turkey extend a hand to other countries during Ramadan with humanitarian aid packages and iftar meals for Muslims in need.

Turkish Red Crescent's (Kızılay) Ramadan aid efforts in Yemen started in the city of Aden. Kızılay will deliver food boxes to thousands of families in the country, where civil war has been going on for many years.

Kızılay's representative in Aden Ibrahim Ubeyd told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the charity will distribute food packages to a total of 5,000 families in Aden, Ebyen, Lahac, Hadrayevt and Taiz provinces within the scope of the aid program that will last for 10 days. Ubeyd stated that they will bring together 3,500 people at iftars, a dinner to mark the breaking of the daily fast during Ramadan, as well as deliver food parcels.

Emphasizing that the organization carries out its work in coordination with the Yemeni Red Crescent, Ubayd said the aid will be delivered to poor families in Yemen as well as disabled and orphaned children.

Kızılay provides food and clothing to those in need in various regions of Yemen, and medicine and medical supplies to hospitals.

In Yemen, nearly 377,000 people have lost their lives in the yearslong conflicts between the Iranian-backed Houthis and the government. The humanitarian crisis, which has grown due to the civil war in the country, has reached terrible dimensions.

Kızılay will also tap into another Islamic holiday for Ramadan: Qurban Bayram, or Eid al-Adha. The holiday, where Muslims slaughter sacrificial animals and distribute part of their meat to the disadvantaged, was marked last year, but the charity turned the donated meat into canned meat for a yearlong distribution scheme. For children, the charity will deliver clothes and gifts on the occasion of Ramadan Bayram, also known as Eid al-Fitr, which is marked at the end of the fasting month.

Overall, the charity will deliver food and clothes in 23 countries, apart from cash aid and iftar dinners.

Pakistan and Mexico

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), a prominent charitable government entity, is also distributing Ramadan relief items in Pakistan and Mexico.

TIKA delivered food packages to hundreds of families in need in Pakistan's Rawalpindi. Turkey's Ambassador to Islamabad Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul, TIKA Islamabad Coordinator Muhsin Balcı and Pakistani officials attended the ceremony held at the Bait-ul Mal institution building in Rawalpindi.

Balcı told AA that food packages were distributed to 400 low-income families in cooperation with Bait-ul Mal.

TIKA is also providing food support to Muslims and poor households living in Mexico City on the occasion of Ramadan. TIKA Mexico Program Coordination Office delivered food packages to 20 Muslim families living in the towns of Iztapalapa, Gustavo, Madero and Azcapotzalco in Mexico City as part of the Ramadan aid program.

"Ramadan Package for Children" support will be provided to 200 families in total, consisting of food and stationery for 100 children, according to the statement released by TIKA.

In cooperation with the National Indigenous Peoples Institute, food parcels will be distributed to the Muslim population residing in Chiapas, one of the poorest states in southern Mexico, during Ramadan, the statement said.

TIKA Mexico Office will also deliver iftar dinners for the Muslim population living in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Havana, the capital of Cuba.

Meanwhile, Turkish charities also focus on delivering aid to Palestine. In Gaza, Selam Aid and Development Association distributed aid packages to poor families in the Gaza Strip under the Israeli blockade, with the support of the Türkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV).

Yakub Süleyman, head of the Selam Association, told AA that a total of 40,000 euros ($43,642) worth of aid was distributed to 1,000 needy families as part of the month of Ramadan.

Noting that aid packages include iftar food and other products, Süleyman thanked the Diyanet, Turkey's Presidency of Religious Affairs, for their assistance to poor families in Gaza.

The Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), another Turkish charity, distributed Ramadan aid in the city of Irbil in Iraq's northern region.

Speaking to AA, IHH representative Mahmut Yaşar stated that they distributed 80 food packages in Irbil as part of Ramadan aid. Noting that the aid was delivered to Syrian and Iraqi orphans and families in need, Yaşar said that IHH also distributes food parcels in Mosul, Duhok and Kirkuk cities besides Irbil.

IHH's development-oriented projects will continue, Yaşar added.

IHH has recently provided food packages to 427 families in need in Somalia during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"We are in the capital Mogadishu. We have delivered food and greetings to the families who are in a difficult situation due to the drought," the Istanbul-based charity said in a statement.

The statement also said that the drought in Somalia, caused by below-average rainfall since 2020, has seriously affected the people. Stating that millions of people living in Somalia have great difficulty accessing clean water and food and that some water wells have dried up, the statement said there is a great need for health services, food and water in the country.

It is estimated that 4.3 million people have been directly affected, while at least 500,000 have been displaced, it added.

"Sources in the region state that the search for grazing fields and water for animals, as well as resource use, poses a risk of conflict, especially in central and southern Somalia. In the country, where a state of emergency was declared on Nov. 23, 2021, the government requested assistance from other states and nongovernmental organizations," the statement added.

IHH has also been at the forefront of aid, especially for the Crimean Tatars in Ukraine, for years. IHH Deputy Director Emre Kaya said they are working to deliver aid in European countries where refugees have taken shelter.

Recently, Kızılay had sent truckloads of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and set up mobile kitchens for locals. The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) announced last week that 23 trucks carrying humanitarian assistance sent by Turkey had arrived in Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. In a statement, the agency said the aid includes 3,536 food parcels, 510 family tents, 26 general-purpose tents, 930 beds, 680 pillow sheet sets and 4,416 blankets.

Aid agencies continue to ramp up their efforts to bring much-needed relief supplies to civilians affected by the fighting in Ukraine, and also to over 3 million refugees who have fled the country since the conflict began.