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Iran tells Turkey not to use refugees as political tool

Politics Materials 27 March 2017 12:57 (UTC +04:00)
Turkey should learn from Iran, how it has hosted millions of refugees for over three decades and has never used the issue for political gain, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
Iran tells Turkey not to use refugees as political tool

Tehran, Iran, March 27

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Turkey should learn from Iran, how it has hosted millions of refugees for over three decades and has never used the issue for political gain, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

The remarks came as a response to Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak, who had said that 3 million of refugees from Iran may come to Turkey, tacitly accusing Iran of assisting them to get through to Turkey.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said such statements by Turkey are “unfounded, meddlesome, and unconstructive,” and said Ankara uses them to justify its own expansionist actions.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has one of the largest and most protracted refugee situations in the world.

Estimates from the government of Iran indicate that 951,142 Afghan refugees and 28,268 Iraqi refugees reside in Iran, in addition to 620,000 Afghans who hold Afghan passports and Iranian visas.

The government also estimates that there are approximately 1.5-2 million of Afghans also living in Iran.

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