Türkiye
- 3 million-plus
- refugees in Türkiye
- US$1.1 billion-plus
- spent by WFP on food procurement within Türkiye in 2020-2024
- 56,000-plus
- people reached by WFP in 2024
Türkiye is among the leading refugee-hosting countries in the world, with over 3 million people seeking shelter. Half of these are children. Most live in cities and villages throughout the country.
The Government of Türkiye operates seven camps in the southeast of the country, which host over 66,600 refugees. The World Food Programme (WFP) assists over 35,000 of the most vulnerable refugees with monthly e-vouchers and cash transfers to help them meet their food needs.
Following the devastating earthquakes of February 2023, WFP reached 1.6 million people in the southeastern part of Türkiye with emergency food assistance. Once markets became functional again, an additional 600,000 earthquake-affected people received cash assistance to meet their basic needs.
As the food security situation stabilized WFP began focusing efforts on the earthquake-affected region to restore and revitalise the local food value chain through strategic investments in small food businesses with the aim of sustaining food security.
Türkiye is of critical strategic importance to WFP’s global operations, given the country’s role in WFP’s procurement of food commodities and food transport corridors from the Black Sea and into Syria. WFP is exploring expanding its grain reserve and milling potential in the country, while making use of Türkiye’s well-developed infrastructure.
WFP also seeks to buy food and other products locally, where possible – an approach that supports farmers, boosts agricultural incomes, expands land use and generates employment.
What the World Food Programme is doing in Türkiye
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Earthquake recovery
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WFP and government, NGO and private sector partners focus on supporting the restoration of the once-vibrant food sector of the earthquake-affected areas, while simultaneously revitalizing income-generating opportunities. The programme invests in over 1,000 small food-related businesses, from rural smallholder farmers, to dairies, to retail markets and beyond. Support includes long-term asset grant packages, access to agricultural equipment and finance, training opportunities and market reconstruction.
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Refugee support
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Since 2012, WFP and the Turkish Red Crescent have provided monthly food e-vouchers that are redeemable in local shops – reaching over 30,000 refugees in camps each month. WFP is also providing financial support to facilitate voluntary relocation of refugees from camps to urban areas, in line with government policies. Following the February 2023 earthquakes, refugees living in urban settings who lost their homes sought shelter in the newly established government camps. WFP and partners provide cash transfers to around 4,300 residents of these camps, to help them meet their basic food needs. WFP also provides hot meals to Syrian returnees at the border gates. Following the February 2023 earthquakes, refugees once living in urban settings moved to a newly established government camp in the southeast. WFP and its partners provide multi-purpose cash assistance to 2,500 residents of this camp, to help them meet their basic needs.
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Food procurement and transport
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Due to its strategic geographic location, efficient port function, food production, processing and extended logistic services, Türkiye has quickly grown to be a key strategic partner for WFP global procurement. WFP has procured over US$1.1 billion worth of food commodities from Türkiye between 2020 and 2024, including wheat flour, vegetable oil and pulses. WFP uses the country’s infrastructure to process and ship these commodities for its global humanitarian operations and performs quality assurance operations at the port of Mersin in southern Türkiye. WFP also supports the UN and other humanitarian actors with storage, transportation and transit of humanitarian goods from Türkiye to Syria, via a hub from southeast Türkiye managed by the WFP-led Logistics Cluster.
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Türkiye