ANKARA
Turkey has accepted tens of thousands of Kurdish refugees fleeing an ISIL assault on their villages on the other side of the Syrian border, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said.
Around 45,000 Kurds entered Turkey’s south-eastern Sanliurfa and Gaziantep provinces on Friday.
Kurtulmus told reporters in Ankara on Saturday: "Turkey had been ready for an even worse-case scenario: a flow of up to 100,000 people.
“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."
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 in Kurdish.
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.
He blamed the international community’s inaction over the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad as a cause of ISIL violence in the country.
Turkey determined to protect its borders: Deputy PM
Turkey will not allow any group to pose a threat to its borders and integrity, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Saturday.
Speaking to The Anadolu Agency prior to the upcoming parliamentary session on sanctioning cross-border operations in Iraq and Syria, Kurtulmus said: "The issue has two dimensions; one part is regarding refugees and humanitarian aid, the other part is about political and, perhaps, military aspects.
"Turkey is obliged to ensure its own protection. The best- and worst-case scenarios are on the table regarding this," he said.
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey is scheduled to hold a session on October 2 to extend the parliamentary mandates that sanction cross-border operations in Iraq and Syria.
The session will be held against the backdrop of an insurgency by militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, which is controlling large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, on which it has declared what it calls a cross-border Islamic "caliphate."
The terrorist group seized 49 Turkish consulate staff, including the consul-general and family members, in the Iraqi city of Mosul in June. The hostages were rescued by Turkish intelligence agents on Saturday.
Kurtulmus emphasized that ISIL threat did not come to its current level in "one night."
"Political instability in Syria, exclusion of large masses from the political participation, together with the segregation in Iraq, the isolation of the Sunni population from politics particularly in [former Prime Minister] Maliki's term offered a golden opportunity for ISIL," he said.
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