Published date: 13 February 2015 00:15 GMT
| Last update:9 years 2 months ago
As many as 70,000 Syrian Kurds have poured into Turkey since Friday fleeing an offensive by Islamic State jihadists in northeastern Syria, the UN's refugee agency said Sunday.
The UNHCR "is stepping up its response to help Turkey come to the aid of an estimated 70,000 Syrians who crossed into Turkey in the last 24 hours," the agency said in a statement.
On Saturday, as the influx was starting, Turkey's deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters: "As of now, 45,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed the border and entered the Turkish soil from eight entrance points."
"Turkey had been ready for an even worse-case scenario: a flow of up to 100,000 people" he said.
“After Turkey opened the border gates, 45,000 Syrian Kurds entered through eight checkpoints from Akcakale to Mursitpinar, just across [the border] from Kobani. We accommodated them in the newly-built tents near the border."
The elderly and the very young are among the most vulnerable during the trek across the border (AA)
He added: "In no other place in the world, no country, regardless how good their economic conditions are, could accommodate some 45,000 refugees at one time. This shows the strength and good intentions of Turkey."
Turkey opened the frontier to cope with a rush of Kurdish civilians fearing an attack on the Syrian border town of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani.
Turning to the amount of humanitarian aid that Turkey provides in Syria and to Syrian refugees, he highlighted Turkey’s position as the world’s third biggest aid donor.
Tens of thousands of refugees cross the border in Turkey (AA)
He blamed the international community’s inaction over the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad as a cause of ISIL violence in the country.
Syrian regime biggest threat to stability: Turkey's FM
As long as the Syrian regime stays in power, stability could be established neither in the region nor in Syria, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday at a UN Security Council Meeting on Iraq chaired by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Cavusoglu underlined that the situation in Syria and Iraq need to be considered as a whole so that the strategies planned with a view to solving the regional problems could be successful.
"Syria and Iraq should be treated as a single 'theatre' of action," he said.
"If you ignore what has happened in Syria, then you cannot find a permanent solution to the Iraqi crisis. The Syrian regime favors radicalism," said Cavusoglu, adding that the regime's policy based on sectarianism and ethnical discrimination threatened regional stability.
"Just like the new Iraqi government, the Syrian regime must be replaced by a new inclusive government based on the Geneva Communique," he said, underscoring that stability could be restored in Syria and the region through diplomatic means, and that a political solution was a must.
Adopted at an international peace conference for Syria in June 2012, the Communique is a six-point road map for Syrian political transition with a view to stopping the violence and reaching a political settlement.
The Communique requires the establishment of a transitional governing body "on the basis of mutual consent" that would “exercise full executive powers” and could include “members of the present government and the opposition and other groups."
As for the Iraqi crisis, Cavusoglu said that efforts must ensure that every component of the Iraqi nation allowed its people a voice, and the new government had made great strides in that regard as opposed to its predecessor whose "wrong policies paved the way for extremist and terrorist groups."
"However, much more needs to be done, including reversing the security situation and addressing the long-standing ethnic tensions and sectarian division," he said, adding that a defence infrastructure should be supported and guided towards a future where the Iraqis could defend themselves.
"It is imperative that no ethnic or sectarian group is excluded during the restructuring of the [Iraqi] army and public institutions," Cavusoglu stressed, adding that the extremists in the country exploited such wrong policies in the past.
"Unless political stability and peace is restored in both countries, there cannot be a permanent peace in the region." "We cannot close the door on people fleeing from the oppressive Syrian regime or the pressure and attacks of other groups," he said.
Currently, there are around 1.2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
"This number will keep increasing unless stability is restored in Iraq and Syria," Cavusoglu said.
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