ISTANBUL,
Turkey —
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday pledged that Turkey would not drive
Syrian refugees back to their home country despite pressure from opposition
parties.
اضافة اعلان
Turkey is today home to more than 3.6 million
Syrian refugees who fled after the civil war broke out in 2011 in its southern
neighbor.
Last week, the main opposition CHP leader
Kemal Kilicdaroglu said his party would return Syrian refugees to their
homeland within two years if he came to power.
“We will protect up to the end these brothers
who fled the war and took refuge in our country” no matter what the CHP leader
claims, Erdogan said in a televised address.
“We will never expel them from this land.”
“Our door is wide open to them. We will
continue to host them. We will not throw them into the lap of murderers.”
Erdogan is facing rising public anger over
the refugees and is wary of the issue dominating next year’s presidential
elections.
Turkey has welcomed nearly five million
refugees in total, including
Syrians and
Afghans, but their presence has caused
tensions with locals, especially as the country is in economic turmoil with the
weakening lira and soaring energy and food prices.
Last week, Erdogan said Ankara was aiming to encourage
one million refugees to return home by building housing and local
infrastructure in Syria.
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