The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stressed on Monday that the developed nations host 2.7 refugees per 1,000, while underdeveloped countries host more than double this figureand blamed them for using the world refugee problem as publicity material, in the framework of World Refugee Day.
“High-income countries host an average of 2.7 refugees per 1,000 people, while low- and middle-income countries host 5.8 refugees, according to United Nations figures. Those who use the few hundred refugees they have accepted as publicity material they do not assume any responsibility in the face of the deepening of the humanitarian crisis”, Erdogan stressed in a video at the World Parliamentary Conference on Migration, as reported by ‘Hurriyet’.
Erdogan stressed that Turkey welcomed 3.6 million Syrian refugees fleeing conflict in Syria and turned no one away who came to the border because of their ethnic identity, religion, culture, disposition and sect. “We have been the country that has received the most refugees in the world for seven years,” said the Turkish president.
“We have opened our doors to millions of people who have been persecuted in the last 500 years, especially the Jews who fled the Inquisition. Our brothers from the Caucasus and our compatriots from the Balkans always took refuge in Turkey as a safe harbor when they had problems”, he asserted.
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Likewise, Erdogan criticized Greece for “persecute, rob and even kill” refugees and stressed that Turkey bears the real burden of the problem.
“Almost every day we witness the plight of refugees who were persecuted, robbed, beaten or even killed by the Greek security forces. In fact, countries like us, neighbors of crisis areas, are the ones that bear the real weight of the migration issue and refugees, and not the developed societies that make themselves heard”, said the Turkish president.
Erdogan emphasized that The whereabouts of tens of thousands of Syrian children “who took refuge in Europe, who were kidnapped, and what their fate was” is unknown.
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