Turkey spends $5 billion on refugees every year, said Disaster and Emergency Management Authority under the Turkish Government – AFAD President Mehmet Halis Bilden.
The European Union and Turkey have signed a refugee deal worth $3 billion, of which $1.6 billion have been formalized, Bilden told foreign reporters who are paying a visit to Turkey, an APA correspondent reported from Turkey.
He recalled that since April 2011, Turkey has begun receiving large number of refugees.
“During the outbreak of the Syrian war, we shifted to open door policy at the order of our prime minister at the time and current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We opened the border. Twenty-three modern shelter centers were set up and other important actions were taken in regions,” said the AFAD president.
He noted that one million of the 3.5 million refugees were at the age of university or school.
“We have registered 65% of children wanting to go to school. We have stated that we will admit all of them to school by the end of 2018. Medical services are available at our camps. They can go to any medical facility at any time at public expense,” he added.
The AFAD president complained about the international community’s inaction and scarcity of aid. The aid Turkey is providing is equal to the aid coming from the rest of the world, he stressed.
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