Thousands of Syrians on Turkish border
More than 80,000 of those fleeing Syria have found asylum in Turkish camps. Last week it was reported that the influx of displaced Syrians prompted Turkey to close its borders to those without passports. However, Monday Turkey assured the UNHCR that the borders remain open.
Nevertheless, Syrian refugee camps in Turkey are simply overloaded. Ankara has announced plans to erect four new camps to house 40,000 more refugees, but fears are that over 400,000 spaces may be needed. The border posts already face a backlog of some 8,000 Syrian refugees.
"All the children have diarrhoea and there is very little medicine. Only one doctor for over 5,000 people," Syrian refugee Hassan Leali told Reuters Thursday. Leali and his 13-member family fled violence in Aleppo to get stuck at the border. But there is no thought of going back.
Last week, Turkey put forward a suggestion to create a 20km wide buffer zone in Syria for humanitarian reasons. The offer received sharp criticism internationally and from Syrian authorities.
“A buffer zone is definitely something Turkey needs to establish to avoid major problems at its border,” political analyst Paolo Raffone explained to RT. “This will be a way to establish a limited no-fly zone on the area necessary to protect refugees. At the same time we will be at the beginning of an intervention which would be masked under this humanitarian emergency.”
Despite the negative international reaction, Ankara is still expected to raise the plan at the UN Security Council.
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