Syria refugees in Turkey cross 200,000 margin

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The number of Syrian refugees taking shelter in Turkey has crossed the 200,000 threshold, the Prime Ministry’s Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) said yesterday.

“Turkey is sheltering 200,091 Syrians who have fled from their homeland due to the ongoing civil war, as of today,” AFAD said in a statement.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had said last year that Turkey could not handle more than 100,000 Syrian refugees and instead proposed a U.N. buffer zone inside Syria to shelter them. “If the number of refugees increases to 100,000, we will not be able to shelter them. We have to welcome them in Syrian territory [under U.N. auspices]," he said.

Turkey has provided all kinds of humanitarian aid to more than 320,000 Syrians for over two years, the agency said, adding that humanitarian needs and health services are provided for 290,000 Syrians who stay in different cities across Turkey outside the refugee camps.

Turkey has built a total of 14 tent cities in Hatay, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Osmaniye, Adıyaman and Adana as well as total of five container cities in Kilis, Şanlıurfa, Malatya and Gaziantep.