SANLIURFA, Turkey
The Kurdish population of Kobani is welcome in Turkey until the war-torn Syrian town of Kobani is rebuilt, the wife of the Turkish president has said.
Emine Erdogan was participating Thursday in the inauguration of Suruc tent city, in Sanliurfa, south-eastern Turkey.
The accommodation is for the Syrian Kurdish population which crossed the Turkish border after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or Daesh -- also known as ISIL -- attacked Kobani in mid-September 2014.
Kobani has been declared free from Daesh but the city was totally destroyed during the war and about 180,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees remain in Turkey.
Erdogan said that Turkey is a "brotherhood homeland" for Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds.
"A 100 years before, these lands were homeland to brother peoples," Erdogan said, adding that "also today our gates are open to all oppressed people no matter what their language or religion is."
Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since the regime of President Bashar al-Assad responded to anti-government protests in March 2011 with a violent crackdown, sparking a conflict that spiraled into a civil war.
The conflict has claimed nearly 210,000 lives and prompted an unprecedented refugee crisis which made Turkey the world's largest refugee-hosting country with more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees.
Turkey has spent more than $5.5 billion dollars in hosting Syrian refugees, without waiting anything in return, The first lady said, adding that Turkey has turned out to be the most generous country in the world with its humanitarian aid.
As many as 3.8 million Syrian refugees are registered in neighboring Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, according to the UN
Erdogan said that the world, with its international aid institutions, has lost this test of humanity in the face of the Syrian crisis.
The Turkish first lady said that children were those who had been affected the most by the ongoing war in Syria.
"Being a child in war means not to being able to live your childhood," Erdogan said.
Addressing to the Syrian residents of the tent camp she said: "You are entrusted to the Republic of Turkey and the days [you will spend here] will enhance our brotherhood and common cultural partnership. Long live the brotherhood of Turks, Kurds and Arabs. Long live the brotherhood of peoples."
Erdogan concluded her speech in Kurdish.
