The Governor's Office has published ICMC's report on the situation of these children in Istanbul, and developed an action plan to address some of the problems the report identified. ICMC is currently the sub-committee's representative to the Istanbul Governor's Office Commission and participates in ongoing efforts to identify, build, and strengthen existing institutions and legal codes that protect this vulnerable group of children. ICMC helped provide disaster relief to the victims of a devastating earthquake in Turkey in August 1999. The ICMC regional office based in Turkey has a multilingual and multicultural staff. Several staff have themselves been refugees and thus possess a unique understanding of the plight of the people they serve.
All staff share a commitment to help the vulnerable and displaced.
In a region with a long history of political, ethnic, and religious conflicts, the regional ICMC office based in Turkey has a special role to play. It is uniquely positioned and has the capability to serve those driven by regional conflicts to seek refuge elsewhere. Mokhtar's story Mokhtar is an Iranian refugee who was living in Turkey during the earthquake of August 1999 in which thousands of people died. The earthquake destroyed Mokhtar's apartment. Undaunted by his own loss, Mokhtar offered his services to ICMC and provided emergency help to the earthquake victims, using rescue skills he had acquired as a member of the Iranian Mountaineering Club.