On January 25, 2013, U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne C. Richard, and USAID Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance Nancy Lindborg met with Turkish partners and assistance providers to discuss the needs of Syrian refugees and ongoing humanitarian assistance efforts.

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford discusses his visit to Islahiye Refugee Camp and provides an update on the humanitarian situation in and around Syria during his travel to Ankara, Turkey, January 25, 2013. Read more about his trip here.

About the Author: Luke Forgerson serves as DipNote’s Managing Editor.

Our “Photo of the Week” comes to us from Laurens Vermeire, a public affairs colleague accompanying a State Department and USAID delegation to Turkey and Jordan. The delegation includes U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford; Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne Richard; and USAID Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, Nancy Lindborg.

The photograph shows the delegation’s visit to the Islahiye Refugee Camp for Syrians near the Syrian-Turkish border in Turkey on January 24, 2013. During the visit, the delegation members spent several hours talking with camp residents… more »

About the Author: Robert S. Ford serves as U.S. Ambassador to Syria.

I am pleased to announce that I’ll be visiting the region this week with colleagues from the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. We’ll visit Turkey and Jordan to see the conditions of Syrian refugees.

At the same time, we’ll sit with governments, international organizations and NGOs working to help the Syrian refugees.

I also hope to have the opportunity to meet with many Syrians and hear directly from them about their circumstances.

Last week, when I was in Jordan, I was watching television and I saw a report on Al Arabiya about a Syrian father and his daughter, a young child, who died from the bitter cold — a very tragic story that affected me deeply. I shared this story when I returned to Washington, and I think… more »

About the Author: Seth McNayr serves at the U.S. Mission to NATO.

On December 4, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Brussels for her ninth and final NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting, began a typically industrious day by meeting with Department of State staff and families downtown at the U.S. Embassy in Belgium. Next, she moved across town to NATO Headquarters, arriving at mid-day and meeting immediately with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. She then conducted her first bilateral meeting with her Bulgarian counterpart, Nikolay Mladenov.

Secretary Clinton then joined other NATO Foreign Ministers for a working lunch of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC), including Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, where many topics of strategic interest were discussed. Afghanistan, in particular, is an area where NATO and Russia have found ways to cooperate in recent years, through such initiatives as joint counter-terrorism and… more »

About the Author: Ivo H. Daalder serves as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Our goals at this Ministerial are clear and simple: to support our ally Turkey by moving toward a deployment of Patriot Missiles to augment their air defenses, to help them protect their people and population; to broaden our cooperation and political dialogue with Russia; to strengthen our partnerships with other countries, including Georgia; and with all our ISAF partners, to monitor our progress toward successful transition in Afghanistan by 2014.

In addition to the goals, however, this Ministerial is noteworthy, because of Secretary Clinton. This is her 38th trip to Europe since becoming Secretary of State; and her ninth and last NATO Ministerial.

She has left… more »

Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), travels to Turkey to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria and assistance for those affected by the crisis, November 2012. A text transcript can be found at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/usaid/201164.htm.

Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), travels to Turkey to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria and assistance for those affected by the crisis, November 2012.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu in New York, New York on September 26, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

About the Author: Anne C. Richard serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration.

I recently spent time in Istanbul to learn about some of the people who have sought refuge in Turkey. My day started with refugee families headed to America in the near future, followed by a meeting with UNHCR to discuss the plight of thousands of refugees living in Turkey but, for one reason or another, are struggling.

At the Resettlement Support Center run by the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), one of our partners, I saw refugees from several countries being interviewed by ICMC staff about their experiences. These preliminary interviews are an important step in preparing refugees for the in-depth process run by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Interpreters and ICMC staff were very busy working with refugees from Iraq, a woman… more »