Turkey opens housing centre for orphans of Syrian war

Turkey has opened the doors of its newly-constructed city on Thursday, 18 May, which has been built to house orphan children of Syrian war.

Orphans City, which boasts a "Children's Living Center", is located in the southern Turkish city of Reyhanl, near the Syrian border. The complex was built to house at least 990 orphaned Syrian children. It consists of 55 villas and has four schools, a mosque, a playground and a sports arena.

The complex's foundations were laid on 2 July, 2015, and it is a joint project between Turkey's government and two aid groups – Turkish pro-government IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation and Qatar's Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF).

The extensive care centre, which was constructed in an area of more than 68,000sq m, provides free food, education, medical and sports facilities to children.

The housing project's website mentioned that the aim behind the construction is to rehabilitate children and address the "war-related psychological problems and traumas" of Syrian orphans, particularly those living on the streets.

It added that eighteen children would live in each two-storey villa along with a "caretaker" and would study at the two primary and two secondary schools situated inside the complex.

"The city is the biggest space dedicated for orphan victims of war in the world," the RAF-IHH City for Human Welfare said.

"A place where children can turn from introvert reserved persons to confident individuals with high self-esteem, develop compassion and kindness while raising animals and trees, learn how to handle their emotions and have dreams," the agency said.

Syria's ongoing civil war, which is now in its sixth year, has orphaned over six million children. More than 2.3 million children have fled the country since and have been registered as refugees, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) said.

According to reports, Turkey has given shelter to over 800,000 school-aged Syrian children, of whom only about 60% were enrolled in schools at the start of the academic year.

The BBC report said another 5,000 children, who would not be living inside the city, would benefit from services and facilities at the complex.