Turkey may face 1mn Syrian refugees by end of 2013: UN
Iran Press TV
Fri Jun 21, 2013 12:38PM GMT
The United Nations has warned that the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey could double to one million by the end of the year should the unrest in the Arab country not end.
“…If things keep going the way they have been going…there may be up to 1 million (Syrian refugees) who would come to Turkey,” Carol Batchelor, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Turkey, said in a statement on Friday.
The total number of Syrian refugees in the region is expected to reach 3.5 million people by the end of 2013, the statement said.
Batchelor called on Syria’s neighboring countries to keep their borders open, saying, “They [refugees] all want to go home. They just need safety and conditions in which they can return to their country and rebuild their lives. This is what we are hoping for.”
Official figures provided by the Turkish government show that more than half a million Syrian refugees have already entered Turkey.
Earlier this month, the UN warned against the spillover of the Syrian crisis into neighboring countries.
More than 1.6 million Syrian refugees are sheltered in often squalid camps across Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.
UN figures show that more than four million Syrians have been internally displaced since the beginning of the unrest more than two years ago.
UNHCR says it has registered close to 1 million refugees since the start of 2013 alone, which amounts to about 250,000 people each month.
The crisis in Syria began in March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Syrian soldiers and security forces, have been killed in the foreign-sponsored militancy.
Last month, the Syrian president said that militants from as many as 29 different countries were fighting against Syria.
The Syrian government says the West and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants.
MAM/KA
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