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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
35,000 Syrians Reached Turkish Border In 48 Hours
2016-02-08
Russian and Syrian government forces intensified an assault on rebel-held areas around the Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday (Feb. 6), prompting tens of thousands to flee to the Turkish border to seek refuge. The local governor of Kilis, Suleyman Tapsiz, said around 35,000 Syrians had reached Oncupinar in the space of 48 hours.

"We have established living conditions (on the Syrian side of the border) for 30-35 thousand of people who fled there. Therefore, for the moment, there is no need to take them to Turkey but if there will be an extraordinary crisis, both my office as the governor and the Turkish government has made all the necessary preparations in the past two years. But there is no need for the time being. We have provided them with everything they need to live there," Tapsiz said.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Foreign Minister of Turkey, which has already taken in 2.5 million Syrians, said up to 55,000 were now fleeing to the frontier.

Cavusoglu said the border was open, but at the Oncupinar crossing near the Turkish city of Kilis, which has been largely shut for nearly a year, refugees were being shepherded into camps on the Syrian side.

"We came to the camps with children, including toddlers only a month old. We are turning to Turkey where there is safety, there are no bombings and like he helped us in the beginning, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Syrians that he was their brother, he shouldn't desert them, he should open the doors, he should go back to helping them - all these people have nowhere to go now, where are we supposed to go? They can't go back to their homes," Syrian man, Mouhammed Idris said.

"They should start opening the doors for us to go through to Turkey because we cannot remain here. Syria is now destroyed and we can't just stay here - look at the circumstances here, war and attacks and planes over us, we can't even sleep here," Syrian woman, Dilal Cuhmani added.
There you go, Europe: you can either grab a piece of Syria, put in a force protection package, and put the refugees there, or you can settle them in Europe. Either way you're going to pay.
Posted by:Steve White

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