Turkey sets a good example for the rest of world by the way it manages the challenges faced by refugees,’ the United Nations Population Fund’s Turkey representative has said.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency during the opening ceremony of a women’s health center in the central province of Eskişehir, Karl Kulessa praised Turkey for hosting over three million refugees.
“These people suddenly came very quickly, and Turkey had to respond. If you look at how it was done, it is in many ways a model,” Kulessa said, adding that other countries could learn from Turkey.
He also lauded the coordination between Turkey and the UN in this regard.
“I think it [coordination] is wonderful. But challenges remain of course,” he said, referring to the challenges facing the municipalities following refugees’ move to cities from camps.
“They [refugees] need skills. I know the UNICEF provides education opportunities, we provide health services. We are already working with some of the refugees as employees in the center. That gives them slowly but surely a chance,” he said.
Kulessa added that the World Health Organization worked with the Turkish Ministry of Health “to train Syrian doctors to be able to function here [in Turkey] as doctors.”
Turkey is home to nearly three million “registered” Syrian people, according to the Directorate General of Migration Management’s 2016 report.
This number accounts for around 45 percent of all Syrian refugees in the region, according to the UN.
The number of Syrian refugees living in Turkey has exceeded the sum of the populations of the 15 least populated Turkish provinces.
Contributing nearly $9 billion to humanitarian aid during the ongoing Syrian crisis, Turkey’s aid for Syrian refugees has been 20 times more than the aid received from international organizations, according to the Prime Ministry Disaster & Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).
Turkey repeatedly calls on the international community to further help address the humanitarian needs of the refugees but Ankara complains the calls often fall on deaf ears.
Sensing that the refugees are here to stay for a longer period, Turkey also is also working for their integration. Last year, Turkey started giving work permits for Syrian refugees. The country also plans to end the disturbing phenomenon of the “lost generation,” the children who had to skip education or lost parents during the war, and continues to work towards enrolling more Syrians in schools.
