Number of Syrian refugees in Turkey passes 500,000 mark: Foreign Ministry

ANKARA

Syrian people carry their belongings as they enter Turkey with their family from the Turkish Cilvegözü border gate, located opposite Syrian commercial crossing point Bab al-Hawa, in Reyhanli, Hatay province, Sept. 4. REUTERS photo

The total number of Syrian refugees who have entered Turkey since the start of the conflict in Syria has climbed to over 500,000, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
 
“The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has exceeded 500,000. Over 200,000 Syrians are currently being hosted in the 20 temporary sheltering centers located in 20 provinces,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, via its official Twitter account Sept. 4.
 
The Foreign Ministry also said that 45,000 Syrian students were going to school in Turkey according to official data. 
 
“A total of 5,638 Syrian babies were born in our sheltering centers,” the ministry also said.

Shortly earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had warned that the Syrian refugee crisis may worsen if there is no international reaction in response to last month's alleged chemical weapons attack.
 
The statement comes as the United Nations announced that the total number of Syrian refugees had hit the 2 million mark.
 
In addition to the 2 million Syrians living as refugees, some 4.25 million people have been displaced within the devastated country since the conflict began in March 2011, according to U.N. figures. 
 
The number of Syrians who have been torn from their homes represents nearly a third of Syria's pre-war population of 20.8 million.