In its weekly statement on regional and global issues, HÜDA PAR addressed the Syrian civil war and global food losses which amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year.

“There is no strong will to end the civil war in Syria that has been going on for 11 years and has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Brave and decisive steps should be taken to end this war, which adversely affected all the countries in the region,” HÜDA PAR said.

HÜDA PAR went on to say: “In Turkey, which has been pursuing a humanitarian refugee policy since the beginning of the war, grave allegations have come to the fore in recent days. Chairman of the Syrian Associations Platform, Dr. Mehdi Davut, announced that the temporary identities of 200,000 Syrian refugees were canceled overnight, and claimed that Afghans and Iraqis were deported to Idlib as 'Syrians'. The escalation of anti-refugee sentiment in the country is worrying. The most important step to be taken for the solution of the refugee issue is to contribute to the stability of Syria and to create conditions for safe return. The Syrian issue should not be sacrificed to political ambitions, efforts should be made to stop the bloodshed."

Global Food Waste

Regarding global food waste, HÜDA PAR said: “According to the 2021 report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), one out of every 9 people in the world, 821 million people, suffers from hunger, a child dies every 5 seconds due to hunger, and 151 million children cannot complete their development due to malnutrition. On the other hand, according to this report, only 2.7 billion tons of 4 billion tons of food produced annually in the world are consumed, and the remaining 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted. Its financial value is approximately 1 trillion dollars.”

“With just a quarter of the food wasted, 821 million hungry people in the world can be fed,” HÜDA PAR noted, adding that while 680 billion dollars of this waste is in developed countries, 310 billion dollars is in developing countries. “In Turkey, which wastes 7.7 million tons of food annually, 93 kilograms of food per person is thrown away.  Unfortunately, Turkey ranks third in food waste in proportion to its population.  This picture is not an acceptable situation for both Turkey and the world.”

“We are followers of a religion that forbids waste and commands us to share what we have with our brothers and sisters.  Let’s make a start to prevent all kinds of waste these days when we enter the month of mercy and blessings. Let’s turn the resources we have into an opportunity that will make the poor happy by using them economically.  We shouldn’t have a single gram of food to throw away.  We call on the government and all institutions to act sensitively and take the necessary measures to prevent waste,” it concluded.  (ILKHA)