WASHINGTON

The U.S. on Friday said Turkey's response to meeting the basic humanitarian needs of Syrian refugees were "worthy of recognition”.

"And the Turkish government, and the Turkish people, have expended significant resources to take them in, and try to provide for their basic needs away from home," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

Earnest's comments came while addressing immigration challenges facing the EU, including the deaths of at least 71 victims believed to be refugees, who were found Thursday in the back of a truck in Austria.

As of January, Turkey was hosting a total of approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees around the country, including 217,000 in 22 camps, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.   

The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey is expected to rise to nearly 1.7 million by the end of the year.

Turkey has spent nearly $6 billion on Syrian citizens - including refugees - since 2011, according to the Turkish Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, or AFAD. 

The EU is also currently facing an immigration challenge.   

The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Melissa Fleming announced Friday that "the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean this year has now exceeded 300,000, including almost 200,000 people landing in Greece and 110,000 in Italy".

She added that 2,500 migrants have died or gone missing this year so far while trying to reach Europe.  

Earnest urged EU governments to develop "appropriate facilities" to help migrants.  

Stressing that the migrants are human beings who have escaped desperate situations, he said it was a situation the EU will have to address.