By Nilay Kar Onum
ISTANBUL (AA) – Thousands of people in need around the world have received meat from animals sacrificed for Eid al-Adha by Turkish aid agencies.
The majority of Muslim countries around the world marked the first day of the four-day Eid Al-Adha holiday on Tuesday, while others, including Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Iran began observing the festival on Wednesday.
The state-run Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has distributed Eid meat to around 10,000 families on the Gaza Strip, which has been reeling under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007.
In a written statement, the agency said the meat has been distributed to families of a village in southeastern Gaza that suffered from Israeli attacks in 2014.
The Turkiye Diyanet Foundation (TDV) provided Eid meat to 19,000 families in need in Afghanistan.
The meat was distributed mainly to war-torn refugees in the capital Kabul as well as in the Herat, Takhar, Samangan, Balkh, Jowzjan and Faryab provinces.
Also, TDV along with several other NGOs provided aid to the poor in Nigeria during Eid Al-Adha.
The NGOs sacrificed 1,340 animals and distributed meat to around 250,000 people in 10 provinces including Abuja, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Kano.
Another Turkish aid organization called Cansuyu, donated Eid meat to 1,500 families in the western African country of Sierra Leone.
* Ali Tepe from Sierra Leone, Hacer Baser from Gaza Strip, Sayed Khodaberdi Sadat from Afganistan and Gokhan Kavak from Nigeria contributed to the story.
