The international community has failed to honor its responsibilities toward Syrian refugees, Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdağ said yesterday.
Speaking at the "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" conference in Brussels, Akdağ pointed to the eight-year conflict and the civilians who are still struggling with bombings, forced displacement and chemical and terrorist attacks, adding that it is becoming the biggest humanitarian crisis since World War II.
Akdağ said Turkey, as a neighboring country, hosts more than 3.5 million Syrians without discriminating against religion or ethnicity.
Expressing that Syrians in Turkey are benefiting from services like health, education and accommodation for free, Akdağ said since the beginning of the war, more than 300,000 Syrian babies have been born in Turkey.
"To provide the numerous services required for the Syrian refugees, Turkey has spent 31 billion euros. Now, I want to make it clear that the majority of the international community has failed to share any of the responsibility," Akdağ said while stressing that Turkey is playing a major role in one of the biggest crises that the EU has ever seen.
Akdağ further said that in accordance with the refugee deal with the EU signed on March 18, Turkey does its part while expecting the EU to do the same, referring to the EU's promises regarding the liberation of visas for Turkish citizens in the Schengen Zone and financial support for the Syrian refugees in Turkey.
In March 2016, Turkey and the EU signed a refugee deal which aimed to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by implementing stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of Turkey's Syrian refugees.
The deputy premier noted that Turkey wanted to see a stable, democratic Syria of which the territorial integrity is assured and with which Turkey shares a 911-kilometer border. Akdağ said the world should not let events repeat themselves for another year in Syria. The conflict in Syria has killed more than 500,000 people and forced more than 5 million to flee, while some 7 million remain internally displaced. Refugees mainly took shelter in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon with Turkey hosting the largest number. Some of them have sought to reach Europe via the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, but hundreds have died en route to Greece and other nearby countries.