Turkey- Turkish PM warns of new wave of refugees from Syria

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Turkish Prime MinisterAhmet Davutoluhas warned of a new wave of Syrian refugees totaling as many as 80000 after people began to move toward Turkey due to increased airstrikes in the country’s northwest.

“Some 10000 new refugees are waiting at Turkey’s border [with Syria] due to the airstrikes in Aleppo. Some 60000 to 70000 people who are in camps north of Aleppo are moving toward Turkey” said Davutolu during a donor conference entitled “Supporting Syria and the region” at the QEII center in central London on Feb. 4.

“Right now my heart is with my country’s border. I am thinking of how and where we will need to locate the people coming from Syria” he added.

Turkey currently hosts 2.5 million Syrian refugees – the most of any country – and has made a deal with the EU to receive funds worth 3 billion euros to be used for the refugees in the country in exchange for permitting fewer migrants to leave for the EU.

Davutolu said the country had so far spent $10 billion on Syrians who have been placed in refugee camps in the country. He said an estimated $20 billion more could be needed to care for those outside of the camps.

The U.N. and regional countries have said they need $9 billion in assistance for Syria in 2016 alone which they wish to raise at the donor’s conference. Past aid conferences for Syria have failed to deliver – last year’s raised just half of its target.

Because the donations announced are for varying periods it is difficult to calculate how much of the $9 billion has been pledged so far.

The U.K. announced that it would commit 1.2 billion pounds ($1.75 billion) in new aid to be delivered over the next four years. The pledge takes the total British contribution since 2011 to 2.3 billion pounds.

Germany has pledged 2.3 billion euros ($2.5 billion) in humanitarian aid for Syria through 2018 including 1.2 billion euros this year.

The United States has said it will contribute about $900 million with around $600 million going to life-saving assistance such as food and shelter for Syrians. The rest will support education in Jordan and Lebanon including for almost 300000 Syrian refugees.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg increased aid to Syria to $280 million in 2016 with a total of about $1.1 billion over the next four years.

Italy pledged $400 million over the next three years while the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was committing $350 million in 2016.

The United Arab Emirates pledged $137 million in 2016.

Davutolu said there were around 700000 children of school age and that only 300000 of them could currently be educated.

“We want to provide the rest with education too. More than 25000 Syrians are in camps while more than three times this number live in cities. There is no city in Turkey that does not contain Syrian refugees” said Davutolu adding that only 40 percent of Turkey’s southern province of Kilis were Turkish citizens while the rest were Syrian migrants. “You can imagine the social and economic hardships that this creates in our country.”