Turkey fears ‘2-3 million more refugees’ if Aleppo falls
Turkey is currently hosting at least 1.5 million refugees displaced by the Syrian conflict.
Turkey fears another two to three million Syrian refugees could cross its borders if the region of Syria's second city of Aleppo is overrun either by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or regime forces, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday.
Turkey is already hosting at least 1.5 million refugees displaced by the Syrian conflict and has repeatedly warned that its capacities are being strained by the numbers.
Cavusoglu said supporting the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) was the only option for the international community against what Ankara sees as the twin threat of ISIS jihadists and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
"The main force fighting both ISIS and the Syrian regime today is the Free Syrian Army," he said.
"But it has failed to achieve the desired outcome because it is fighting against both groups," he told reporters in Ankara alongside his Finnish counterpart.
Cavusoglu said there was little difference between ISIS militants and the Assad regime.
"Both of them are killing people brutally and don't refrain from using any kinds of weapons at their disposal. Both force people to flee their land."
He added: "An advance on Aleppo would mean an influx of two to three million people to the Turkish border."
He said a weakening of the moderate opposition to Assad and the FSA would "result in the advance of the unstoppable ISIS as well as the regime".
"And this will make Syria even more unstable. Therefore, the advance of both of them should be halted."
Turkey has repeatedly called for the ousting of Assad as the sole way to resolve the Syrian crisis permanently.
But it has grown increasingly concerned in recent months that the US-led coalition strikes against ISIS could end up strengthening the Assad regime.
Ankara has been seeking to persuade the United States a three-pronged approach is needed to strike against ISIS, Assad and Kurdish militants. But it is unclear if its arguments have made any headway with Washington.
In recent months, Assad's forces have advanced around the outskirts of the eastern portion of Aleppo that is under rebel control, threatening to encircle it completely.
Rebel-held areas of Aleppo are under the control of multiple groups, including fighters affiliated with the FSA.
-
1900GMT: Did the international community abandon the Syrian refugees?
News Bulletins -
Fleeing Syrians face ‘new level of hopelessness’
Lebanon last month began rejecting all but ‘exceptional’ refugee cases Middle East -
Identities and job opportunities for Syrian refugees
The Syrian regime’s policy is to force its citizens to emigrate Middle East -
Turkish resort city bars unauthorized Syrian refugees: reports
Local media reported that unauthorized Syrian refugees are not allowed to enter the popular Turkish resort of Antalya Middle East -
Somali refugees at Sayyid camp south of Mogadishu
Somali refugees go about their daily lives on October 30, 2014 in the at Sayyid camp south of Mogadishu. Perspective -
Syria’s neighbors are suffering refugee fatigue
Syria’s neighboring states are reaching the point of refugee fatigue Middle East -
Syrian refugees: Journeys of dashed hopes
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently said Turkey had spent $4.5 billion on Syrian refugees Middle East -
U.N.: Syria’s neighbors at ‘breaking point’
Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan likely will have the refugees “for many years to come,” John Ging said Middle East -
ISIS could prompt what millions of refugees didn’t
The current ISIS offensive is bringing back the memories of the crisis in northern Iraq following the 1990-1991 Gulf War Middle East