Turkey begins to get int’l aid for Syrians

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

A container camp at Turkey’s Syria border hosts around 9,000 Syrians. AA photo

International aid for Syrians fleeing Damascus’ crackdown has begun to arrive in Turkey, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said April 13 amid concern over the growing numbers of refugees flooding over the country’s borders.

“We will start getting international aid, and in fact we have already started” after the numbers of refugees turning up at the Turkish-Syrian border starting swelling, Davutoğlu told reporters in Istanbul. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh visited his Turkish counterpart to exchange views on the ongoing crisis in Syria.

There are 25,000 Syrian refugees that have fled to Turkey and 100,000 refugees that have fled to Jordan so far, Davutoğlu said. “There is an increasing [number] of Syrian refugees fleeing to both Turkey and Jordan recently, so we have reviewed the possible measures to be taken and possible international mechanisms that can be mobilized if the number of refugees increases rapidly,” Davutoğlu said.

“We have asked for international humanitarian aid from the G-8 countries’ ministers, and they expressed their support via videoconference,” he said. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees this week dispatched 1,500 tents and 1,500 blankets to Turkey, diplomatic sources said.

Judeh also said Jordan expected international humanitarian aid for the Syrian refugees who had fled to the Hashemite kingdom. “Jordan’s resources are limited, so we expect support from donor countries.”
The Jordanian foreign minister also said both Ankara and Amman shared the common view that there should be a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

“We support Kofi Annan’s initiative, we hope it can succeed,” Judeh said. On April 10, Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on the international community to help Turkey house Syrian refugees.