Erdogan Urges International Community To Share Turkey's Burden In Assisting Refugees

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked the international community on Saturday to share the mounting burden of helping refugees and provide more funding toward the cause

OSAKA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th June, 2019) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked the international community on Saturday to share the mounting burden of helping refugees and provide more funding toward the cause.

"We've conveyed to our interlocutors that in order for Turkey to sustain aid and relevant services to refugees, the international community should assume additional responsibility and share the burden with us," he told a press conference.

The United Nations has estimated that Turkey has spent $37 billion on helping refugees, who are mostly Syrian, Erdogan said, adding that Ankara has received only $1 billion from international aid agencies and $2.8 billion from the European Union, which originally promised $6.8 billion.

"Countries such as Jordan and Turkey are the immediate neighbors of Syria, and these two countries had to assume the burden of millions of irregular migrants all by themselves," he said.

Erdogan slammed Western nations for "failing this very fundamental test of humanity" despite criticizing other countries for human rights violations.

"The prejudices surrounding the refugees need to be eradicated once and for all, and as long as we do not produce policies based on conscience and humanity, little bodies will be washed ashore and people will keep on dying in the harsh waters of the oceans and the seas," he said.

The president compared refugee camps in Mediterranean countries to "open-air penitentiaries," calling those who take the risky journey to Europe by boat "voyagers of hope."