Syrian refugee women stand outside their tents at a refugee camp in Nizip in Gaziantep province, near the Turkish-Syrian border March 17, 2014. (Reuters)
‘Almost one million’ Syrian refugees in Turkey
Erdogan made the announcement and pledged to keep accepting those fleeing the war
The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has reached “almost one million,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, while pledging to keep accepting those fleeing the war.
“Are we supposed to ask our brothers not to come, and to die in Syria?” Erdogan said as he addressed his party’s lawmakers in parliament.
The three-year conflict in Syria has sent millions fleeing to neighboring countries and beyond.
syrian refugees draw dream homes
Turkey, a staunch opponent of the regime in Damascus, is one of the countries that has born the brunt of the refugee crisis, along with Lebanon and Jordan.
The United Nations said earlier this month that more than a million people Syrians had officially registered as refugees in Lebanon, and that numbers were swelling by the day.
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