President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during the 1st Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, Switzerland on December 17, 2019. ( Murat Kula - Anadolu Agency )
ANKARA
Safe return of refugees is key to permanent stability and normalization in Syria just like anti-terror efforts, the Turkish president said on Tuesday.
“Return of refugees is as important as fight against terrorism in establishment of permanent stability and normalization in Syria,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, Switzerland.
Erdogan said: “Formulas to keep refugees in their own lands and repatriate those in Turkey need to be implemented.”
Turkey has been carrying the responsibility for the refugees alone for nine years on behalf of the international community, he said, and stressed: “Keeping refugees within Turkish borders cannot be seen as only solution to Syrian refugee crisis.”
Erdogan also pointed to the “big drama” behind what is generalized as the “refugee problem.”
The bodies of little children who hit the beach have shown to the world that this problem can no longer be ignored,” he said.
“I am not saying this as the president of a country far from conflicts and irregular migration. According to the UN figures, I am the president of a country that hosts the most asylum seekers in the world,” said Erdogan.
Turkey is currently hosting 5 million refugees -- with 3.7 of them Syrians -- and never forcefully repatriated any of them, he elaborated.
- Turkey bearing brunt of refugee crisis
"While countries with much more means than we have were putting limits to number of refugees they receive, we have embraced everyone without any discrimination on race, religion, language, or ethnic origin,” he said.
Erdogan also said Turkey is the number one country in humanitarian aid compared to the national income.
The Turkish leader also told the first-ever global forum that geographical distance cannot be an excuse to ignore the refugee problem.
On the 2016 refugee deal between the EU and Turkey, Erdogan said the EU disbursed only €2 billion despite its pledge of €6 billion to Turkey to help Syrian refugees.
Some 371,000 Syrians have voluntarily returned to the areas in Syria cleared of terrorists by Turkey, he added.
Since 2016, Turkey has conducted three successful operations in northern Syria against the terrorist YPG/PKK and Daesh/ISIS: Operation Euphrates Shield (2016-17), Operation Olive Branch (2018) and Operation Peace Spring (2019-).
The latest operation east of the Euphrates River aims to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.
"I believe that this number will reach one million in the first phase if we can realize the project I brought forward in the UN General Assembly," he said.
Addressing the 74th UNGA in September, Erdogan said a peace corridor on Turkey's Syria border will enable the resettlement of 3 million Syrians from Turkey, Europe and other countries if it is extended to the Deir ez zor-Raqqa line.
Turkish and U.S. military officials agreed on Aug. 7 to set up a safe zone in northern Syria and develop a peace corridor to facilitate the movement of displaced Syrians who want to return home.
