Turkish NGOs call for more support to Syrian refugee children

Turkish NGOs on Monday called on the world countries to do more to save Syrian refugee children from being "a lost generation."

Nine Turkish and international NGOs, in cooperation with Turkey's Jockey Club and the UN High Commission for Refugees, organized an event in Istanbul "to make Syrian refugee children feel children again."

Turkish and Syrian artists, musicians, performers and clowns made performances for more than 500 refugee children on the occasion of the World Refugee Day.

Representatives of NGOs noted that the refugee children urgently need to have psychological support to regain their mental health and overcome excessive trauma.

"Otherwise they will quickly become a lost generation," said Leyla Akca, a psychotherapist and clinical director of Turkish NGO Maya.

According to Akca, Syrian refugee children in Turkey feel discriminated, volatile and "don't feel like children."

"If we won't take necessary measures they will grow up as enemies of the host culture," she cautioned.

Psychotherapists with Maya have been working with more than 1,000 Syrian children across Turkey trying to heal their traumas through art and drama.

Referring to other countries' insufficient help to the refugees, Akca said, "We need them here to hear and understand the needs of Syrian refugees, not behind the closed doors of their parliaments."

Turkey's Jockey Club announced a new plan to hire some 1,000 young Syrian women as hostlers in the club's nine hippodromes in nine cities.

Turgut Alakus, the club's general director, also urged the international community to develop new plans and projects for Syrian women and children to help heal their psychological wounds.

"Turkey and Turkish NGOs are doing their best yet more is needed," he said.

Turkey hosts some three million refugees from Syria and Iraq, among them are some 1.5 million Syrian children. Endit