Ankara deals with refugees alone: Çiçek

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Syrian refugees try to cross the border fence from Syria into Turkey. REUTERS photo

Turkey has been sheltering 170,000 refugees due to the conflict in neighboring Syria and has so far spent over $400 million for their needs, Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek said Nov. 20.

Çiçek’s remarks came during a meeting with Riccardo Migliori, the president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE-PA), as he criticized the indifference of the international community in responding to the humanitarian needs of the refugees. More than 170,000 people have fled from the brutality and chaos in Syria, where people are being killed each day, and taken shelter in Turkey, Çiçek said.

“The money that Turkey has spent so far is over $400 million. Those who are up in arms when two whales are in trouble in the poles remain unmoved while here tens of thousands are dying,” Çiçek said.
In early November, some 9,000 Syrians fled fighting over the course of 24 hours during a rebel advance into Syria’s northeast, swelling the number of registered refugees in Turkish camps to over 120,000, with winter setting in.

“Since the beginning of 2012, we have stated that we could accept aid for the survival of these people. To this very moment, no remarkable aid has arrived,” Çiçek said. Migliori expressed appreciation for Turkey’s efforts for the Syrian refugees. Migliori said he would call on all national Parliaments represented at the OSCE-PA to make concrete contributions in solidarity with the Syrian refugees.