In ceremony at BYEGM, thousands of dictionaries donated to reugees in Turkey

Dictionaries bought with donations raised by the Turkey office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refuges (UNHCR) yesterday were handed out to refugees in Turkey with a ceremony at the Prime Ministry Directorate General of Press and Information (BYEGM) in Ankara. Speaking at a press conference at BYEGM headquarters, UNHCR Turkey representative Michel Gaude said that they carried out the dictionary donation project in cooperation with a non-governmental organization called Bonjour Ankara, most of whose members are women. "To raise money for the project, we held a ball at the French Embassy as part of last year's World Refugee Day on June 20 in aid of the refugees who took refuge in Turkey for various reasons," he said. "With the collected money, we bought nearly 1,350 Arabic-Turkish and Persian-Turkish dictionaries to give to refugee families living in 17 Turkish provinces who have children attending school." Gaude also expressed hope that the dictionaries would help thousands of refugees staying long term in Turkey to better communicate, thus helping them overcome various problems they face in daily life, and raise their living standards. Also speaking at the press conference, BYEGM head Salih Melek said, "The Turkish people see refugees who have taken shelter in Turkey as their guests, and extend support as much as possible." Melek also praised the UNHCR's relief efforts, saying that BYEGM is ready to cooperate with the UN agency, which works to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide.