12                          HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS IN NORTHERN IRAQ, 1991:

                       International Relief Efforts

    Operation Provide Comfort was a unique international effort responding to
the tremendous suffering of innocent people. Countries around the world sent
military forces, civilian volunteers, government workers, and relief supplies.
Thirty-nine civilian relief agencies supported Operation Provide Comfort, 12
countries sent military forces, and 36 countries sent money, supplies, or relief
aid. More than two dozen ships carrying relief supplies landed every week.
Tents, blankets, clothing, and medicine flooded into Turkey where much of it
might have remained to spoil had it not been for the immediate availability of
management, labor, and transportation supplied by international military forces
and civilian relief agencies.
    Although reluctant to permanently admit stateless refugees, Turkish President
Tugrut Ozal consented to provide limited assistance to dislocated Iraqi civilians.
By mid-April, Turkey was swamped with fleeing refugees and both sides of the
border were crowded with starving people who overwhelmed Turkey's capacity
to assist. With a humanitarian crisis on his hands, President Ozal approved a
United Nations plan to move the refugees back into northern Iraq. Turkey
provided operating locations at Incirlik, Mersin, Iskenderun, Diyarbakir, Batman,
Silopi, and Yuksekova. It dedicated aircraft and railway lines to send relief
supplies forward. Turkish security forces maintained order and provided medical
care in the temporary mountain camps. Fuel, building materials, food stuffs, and
clothing were provided by  Turkey.  Individual Turks provided carpentry,
sanitation, and transportation services. Operation Provide Comfort could not have
been conducted had it not been for Turkish support.
    On 12 April, the government of Turkey approved an increased flow of
materials to the refugees and cut the "red tape" for incoming relief supplies.
Materials arrived by air at Incirlik and Diyarbakir, and by sea at Iskenderun and
Mersin. These much-needed supplies were sent forward by ground transportation
to humanitarian service support bases (HSSBs). These bases were remote staging
areas for receiving, preparing, and transloading goods destined for refugee relief
by air or land. Two bases were planned, one at Silopi near the tri-border
confluence and another at Yuksekova near the Iran-Iraq border."
    Civilian relief agencies participating in Provide Comfort included the United
Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Food
Program, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Red Cross,
the Turkish Red Crescent, the League of the Red Crescent, the American Red
Cross, the Italian Red Cross, the Red Cross of Malta, Medical Volunteers
International, Doctors Without Borders, the International Medical Corps, Doctors
of the World, Catholic Relief Services, the World Council of Churches, the
Mideast  Church  Council, the World  Relief Foundation, Cooperative for
American Relief Everywhere (CARE), the United Kingdom Tear Fund, the
International Rescue Committee, Samaritan's Pulse, Swiss Disaster Relief, the
Jordanian Red Crescent, World Vision, Direct Relief International, Christian
Outreach, Save the Children Foundation, Irish Concern, International Action