President Erdoğan: The only places that the people who fled Syria return to now are the areas that Turkey has made secure

 

President and Party Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed citizens during a campaign rally in the province of Kahramanmaraş in the run-up to the local elections scheduled for March 31, 2019.

“TURKEY SHARES ALL ITS MEANS WITH THE OPPRESSED AND THE WRONGED”

Underlining that Turkey shares all its means with the oppressed and the wronged in particular, and ranks near the top among the countries that provide the most humanitarian aid, President Erdoğan noted that Turkey has thus far spent 37.5 billion dollars for the refugees in its soil, adding: “The total number of refugees in the 28 EU-member countries is 2 million while it is 4 million in Turkey. The reason why the European people live today in peace and security in their soil is because of the self-sacrifice of Turkey and the Turkish people.”

“ONCE WE MAKE EAST OF THE EUPHRATES SECURE, MILLIONS OF SYRIANS WILL RETURN HOME”

Stating that the only places that the people who fled Syria return to now are the areas that Turkey has made secure, President Erdoğan noted: “311 thousand Syrian brothers and sisters of ours have so far returned to these areas. We say, let’s entirely make the Idlib region secure. We are holding talks with Russia and Iran on this issue, and we have made great progress. We say, let’s also hand over Manbij to its true owners under the guarantee of Turkey. At least half million Syrians are waiting for Turkey to make that region secure in order to return to Syria. Likewise, once we make east of the Euphrates secure, millions of Syrians will return home. I’m calling on the entire world, Europe and the U.S. in particular, to support this effort of Turkey.”