Vehicle owners must bring their old plates along to the inspection station
uae3 hours ago
Ankara — Turkey on Thursday said it was taking measures to limit the flow of Syrian refugees onto its territory after an influx of thousands more over the last days due to fighting between Kurds and militants.
Under an “open-door” policy championed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has taken in 1.8 million Syrian refugees since the conflict in Syria erupted in 2011.
A Turkish official told AFP that in the last week 7,000 refugees had fled to Turkey to escape the fighting and another 6,600 had joined them since Wednesday.
Kurdish forces are currently locked in bitter clashes with Daesh for the area bordering Turkey.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus visited on Wednesday the Akcakale border crossing in southern Turkey, where the main influx has been concentrated.
“Turkey will not accept entries onto its territory from Syria except in case of a humanitarian tragedy,” he said, quoted by local media.
However, the Turkish official told AFP that these measures did not put in question Turkey’s open door-policy towards Syrian refugees.
“The restrictions formulated by the local authorities are temporary and local,” the official said.
Kurtulmus also reaffirmed the government’s anger against EU countries that have only accepted a handful of refugees while Turkey has taken the lion’s share of the burden.
“These states mobilise when just five refugees arrive at their borders but continue to be mere spectators at the efforts employed by Turkey,” he said.
The Kurdish forces aim to wrest control of Tel Abyad — opposite Akcakale — in order to free up passage from Kobane, on the Turkish frontier, to Qamishli which is close to the Iraqi border.
Formerly an ally of Damascus, Ankara broke off its relationship with Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad as a 2011 uprising escalated from peaceful demonstrations to a bloody civil war.
The Turkish government said in April it has spent almost $5.5 billion (4.8 billion euros) to provide for Syrian refugees.
Vehicle owners must bring their old plates along to the inspection station
uae3 hours ago
Clean sweep for UAE in golf as the hosts win team gold and Rayan claims individual title
sports3 hours ago
Silva announced his farewell on Monday in an emotional video message on Chelsea's website
football4 hours ago
Protest organizers deny accusations of anti-Semitism, arguing that their actions are aimed at the Israeli government
world4 hours ago
Images published on the weekend showed Bollywood superstar actor Shah Rukh Khan sweating profusely while watching his team train
cricket4 hours ago
Al Ghadeer has offered the highest ROI of 7.65 per cent for affordable houses
realty4 hours ago