TURKEY ‘HAS SPENT $5.5BN ON SYRIAN COMMUNITY’

Istanbul, 26 Jumadil Akhir 1436/15 April 2015 (MINA) – Turkey has spent $5.5 billion supporting Syrians in Turkey to date, Fuat Oktay, the president of the Turkish Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Administration, has said.

“The international community has spent $306 million for the Syrians, unfortunately,” Oktay said, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting..

He also said a Turkish delegation will visit refugee camps in the Turkish provinces of Gaziantep and Kilis on April 15 and 16, before going on to Lebanon and Jordan, countries which also host Syrian refugees.

Donor Support Group Denmark representative Carsten Ulrich Staur thanked Turkey for its aid to Syrian refugees.

He said: “Turkey has played a great role as a regional actor since the beginning of the Syrian crisis.”

He also thanked Oktay for his leadership on the national and international level and said he hoped Turkey will continue to do a “great job.”

The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, also praised Turkey last week for hosting Syrian refugees.

The four-year-old Syria conflict has created an acute refugee crisis, with as many as 3.8 million Syrian refugees currently registered in neighboring Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

Turkey is currently hosting nearly 1.7 million Syrian refugees, according to the Turkish Development Ministry. (T/P002/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)