The Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation and the Turkish Taekwondo Federation have signed an agreement of partnership in the running of an academy at the Kilis refugee camp ©Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation

The Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) has signed an agreement with the Turkish Taekwondo Federation (TTF) with a view to running their academy at the Kilis refugee camp.

The camp was established five years ago and is located at Öncüpınar, next to Turkey's border with Syria, to accommodate victims of the war in the conflict-ridden country. 

It housed as many as 14,000 refugees in February 2014. 

TTF set up the academy in 2014 and it is expected to double in size. 

More than 600 Syrian refugee children attend classes in taekwondo there, up to 12 times a week.

THF will now take on the management and ownership of the academy with TTF as an operational partner.

This will enable the THF to operate guided educational programmes and belt-passing systems.

The taekwondo academy at the Kilis refugee camp in Turkey is one of three operated in refugee camps by the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation ©Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation
The taekwondo academy at the Kilis refugee camp in Turkey is one of three operated in refugee camps by the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation ©Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation

With capacity of the academy expected to double it will mean that Kilis will be the THF's largest ongoing project.

TTF will still organise the classes and report back to THF through videos, photos and activity reports. 

They will also recruit extra instructors.

THF will provide financial support and equipment, as well as implementing both training and the wider educational programme, and overall guidelines.

It will also conduct monitoring and evaluation.

Kilis is the third THF academy in a refugee camp, with others based at the Azraq Camp in Jordan, which also caters for Syrian refugees, and the Kiziba Camp in Rwanda, which accommodates those from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue officially announced his plan to establish the THF in his speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, on the 2015 International Day of Peace.