Some 7 million Syrians living outside county, says Turkish official

ESKİŞEHİR

Some 7 million Syrians have fled their country since the start of the civil war, with more than 3.7 million of them presently living in Turkey, Deputy Interior Minister İsmail Çataklı has said.

“Back in 2010, a year before the conflict broke out, the population of Syria was 21.3 million,” Çataklı said in the northwestern province of Eskişehir at an event, marking International Migrants Day.

However, millions of Syrians have left the country or been displaced after the civil war began, he added.

“Currently Turkey hosts more than 3.7 million Syrian refugees, while around 1 million Syrians live in Lebanon and another 1 million in Jordan. There are also some 1 million Syrians in Europe.”

Overall, some 7 million Syrians now live outside their country, while another 6 million Syrians live in the areas that are not controlled by the Damascus regime, such as 3.7 million people in Idlib and 2.1 million displaced people in the Operation Euphrates Shield, Operation Olive Branch and Operation Peace Spring zones, according to Çataklı.

Only 470,000 people have returned to Syria to the areas where Turkey carried out operations and created secure zones, he said.

Çataklı informed that there are also 325,000 people from different nations living in Turkey under temporary protection, while more than 1.2 million foreigners live with residence permits.