Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The flow of refugees from Syria negatively affects not only Turkey, but the entire region, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted Oct. 14 by Kanal7 TV channel as saying.
"Turkey is making efforts to cope with the flow of refugees from Syria and Iraq," he said. "The country needs the international community's support."
Cavusoglu said that at present, Turkey has more than 1.5 million refugees from Syria and 20,000 refugees from Iraq.
Earlier, head of the Turkish Office for the Prevention and Emergency Management (AFAD), Fuat Oktay said that Turkey is ready to accept refugees from Syria.
During the conflict in Syria which began in March 2011, over 150,000 people were killed and over 4.5 million have become refugees in Syrian territory as well as 2.5 million having fled to neighbouring countries.
The main burden of receiving refugees lay on Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The total population of Syria before the conflict amounted to 20 million.