Erdoğan meets with Angelina Jolie, UN refugee chief

MARDİN

Actress Angelina Jolie (L) and President Erdoğan (R) shake hands as U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Guterres gestures.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met June 20 with Hollywood star and U.N.'s Goodwill Ambassador for refugees, Angelina Jolie, and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres in the southeastern province of Mardin, as part of an event to mark the World Refugees Day. 

The Oscar-winning American actress and director arrived Turkey late on June 19 on a private plane to visit Syrian and Iraqi refugees, who fled clashes in their countries, in temporary protection centers in the Midyat district of Mardin.

The trio met for half an hour at the Kasr-ı Nehroz Hotel, where Erdoğan also had a close-to-press meeting with NGO representatives. 

His wife Emine Erdoğan accompanied the president in his visit to Mardin, as Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, Food Minister Mehdi Eker were also present. 

On June 20, Guterres was scheduled to visit the temporary protection centers in Turkey's southeastern provinces of Mardin, Şanlıurfa and Gaziantep.

Jolie had visited Turkey in 2012, when she met Syrian refugees, accompanied by Guterres in the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Kilis.  

In 2011, Angelina Jolie traveled to Turkey's southern province of Hatay - 20 kilometers from the Syrian border - to meet with refugees who had fled Syria. 

"The people in this camp have fled in fear for their lives, and many told me they were distraught about the safety of loved ones still in Syria," Jolie said.

At the time, there were almost 10,000 people living in four camps managed by Turkey and the Turkish Red Crescent.

Over the past two weeks only, a total of 23,349 Syrian refugees fleeing clashes in Syria have entered Turkey, the spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry said June 18.