Ten thousand Syrians waiting to enter Turkey: Davutoglu

LONDON

Some 10,000 Syrian migrants were waiting outside the Turkish border early Thursday morning after fleeing airstrikes in Aleppo, Ahmet Davutoglu said.

The Turkish Prime Minister said that more than 5,000 ethnic Turkmen and Arab refugees had been accepted into Turkey in the last week alone, following Russian airstrikes and a offensive by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking at the Syrian Donors’ Conference in London, Davutoglu said: “As Turkey, until now, we received 2.5 million -- exactly 2,541,897 Syrians -- in Turkey, today, right at this time, but tomorrow another 10,000 may be added because of the situation in Aleppo.”

He added: a further 60-70,000 were on their way towards Turkey from camps to the north of Aleppo due to actions by pro-Assad and Russian forces in the region.

He said: “They attacked Aleppo and the humanitarian corridor, [the] logistic corridor from Turkey to Aleppo has been cut off. All the needs, food, everything to Aleppo where 300,000 people are living, were coming from Turkey.

Following the suspension of peace talks in Geneva on Wednesday, international reactions mostly laid blame on increased military actions from Russia and the Syrian regime against opposition-held areas.

“Now, I am very sorry to say -- but at the same time from my heart I am crying -- that this humanitarian logistic corridor is under the invasion of these foreign fighters and regime forces with the support of Russian warplanes.

“What they want to do in Aleppo today is exactly what they did in Madaya before the siege of starvation.”

Located northwest of the capital Damascus, Madaya is currently home to some 40,000 people who remain in desperate need of assistance due to a seven-month siege, laid by the Assad regime and Hezbollah.