Turkish NGO brings hope and a football game to Syrian children in Hatay

Footballers, artists, journalists, doctors and teachers from different backgrounds and countries recently met with Syrian children in Turkey's Hatay province, Anadolu Agency reported on Wednesday.

Under Turkish NGO International Aid and Development Association's (Uluslararasi Yardimlasma ve Kalkinma Derneginin) "Join up with them!" project, 28 people from Spain, USA, England, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Kuwait, Qatar, and Palestine visited Syrian families in Hatay's Reyhanli district.

But the highlight of the initiative was a game of football the children took part in with Qatar's national football team captain, Adel Lamy.

Qatari national footballer Adel Lamy, who participated in the 4-day event, told Anadolu Agency he wanted to see first hand the problems Syrian children were facing.

"Even if it's just for a little while I am here to leave a smile on their face. The war in Syria affected and victimised children the most. I came here to raise their morale and to see the problems children endure first hand," added Lamy.

The association's vice president Necip Fazil, speaking to Anadolu Agency, said their goal was to stand by Syrian families and children.

Aksoy said by bringing together people from different nationalities they wanted to shed more light on the difficulties faced by Syrian families.

"We had activities taking place over a 4 day period for the kids of Reyhanli, and footballers, artists, journalists and doctors from various countries took part in the event," added Aksoy.

Aksoy also said that they had plans to expand the programme in the future.

Turkey has taken in some 3 million Syrian migrants since the start of civil war in 2011, making it home to the world's largest refugee population.