The government is to provide an additional US$200,000 to fund the operations of the Taiwan-Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens in southern Turkey, Taiwan’s representative office in Turkey said.
A memorandum of understanding outlining the allocation of the funds to the center over the course of one year was signed on Wednesday in Reyhanli by Representative to Turkey Volkan Huang (黃志揚), Reyhanli Mayor Mehmet Hacioglu and director of the Taiwan Center Chiu Chen-yu (裘振宇).
The funding will allow the center to provide vocational training programs to Syrian women who have fled their country’s civil war, and help them earn a living independently, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Mission in Ankara said.
Photo: CNA
The center will also produce documentaries to promote humanitarian efforts undertaken in the area by Taiwan in collaboration with Turkey, the representative office added.
Taipei provided US$400,000 for the construction of the center in Reyhanli, a municipality near the Syrian border that has received more than 120,000 Syrian refugees since 2011.
The building, which has 3,000m2 of floorspace, provides shelter for refugees, vocational training, and religious and social activities, the center says on its Web site.
After construction was completed in October last year, the center was transferred to the Reyhanli government, which appointed Chiu, the center’s architect, as its first head.
Reyhanli has been unable to finance the center’s operations, so the government stepped in with funding, the representative office said.
Taiwan is funding the center as a way of contributing to the international community, Huang said.
The Syrian refugee crisis is still an important issue 10 years after the war broke out, and Taiwan will continue to help those forced to leave their homes, he said.
“The responsibility to address the refugee issue should not fall solely on Turkey’s central and local governments,” Huang said, adding that “every country in the world should lend a helping hand.”
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS