Around 35,000 Syrian refugees have arrived at the Turkish border, near the southern city of Kilis in the last two days, and are being accommodated on
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Around 35,000 Syrian refugees have arrived at the Turkish border, near the southern city of Kilis in the last two days, and are being accommodated on the Syrian side, the governor of Kilis said on Saturday.
Suleyman Tapsiz also said another 70,000 Syrians could be on their way to the border crossing, which lies between Oncupinar in Turkey and Bab al-Salam on the Syrian side.
The refugees have been fleeing an offensive by the Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes, on rebel-held areas near the northern city of Aleppo.
One refugee said: “We left our village and we were taken hostage by Daesh (Islamic State group). We quickly came to the village of Kafarnoos to cross the border to Turkey.”
“It’s 48 hours that we sleep on the floor and on the sand until they let us cross the border,” explained another.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said on Saturday that Turkey would be maintaining its “open door policy for people fleeing (Syria).”