Turkey: Erdogan announces a vast project to resettle a million Syrian refugees

Turkey hosts nearly 4 million Syrian refugees on its soil.

© ADEM ALTAN / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

As the end of Ramadan celebrations come to an end, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on Tuesday May 3 by videoconference during the inauguration ceremony of a new housing area with a capacity of several dozen thousands of people in Idlib, northern Syria, for the displaced.

In particular, he announced the launch of a vast construction project which will eventually allow the resettlement of one million Syrians who are currently refugees in Turkey.

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With our correspondent in Istanbul,

Céline Pierre-Magnani

Small identical white brick houses lined up as far as the eye can see.

These are veritable ex-nihilo cities that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to have built in northern Syria: " 

Azaz, Jarablus, El-Bab, Tell Abyad and Ras al-Ain etc., it's in thirteen different regions that we are going to develop this vast project in collaboration with the local authorities.

The construction of housing, schools, hospitals;

from agriculture to industry, all basic economic infrastructure is integrated into the project to ensure basic needs.

»

A political issue

Turkey hosts nearly 4 million Syrian refugees on its soil.

If they had initially been well received in the country, their situation has deteriorated considerably in recent years.

The more the economic situation worsens in the country, the more the words of the Turks are uninhibited.

In March, a survey by the Metropoll Institute indicated that more than 80% of those questioned wanted the Syrian refugees to leave.

A theme that will prove decisive for the next legislative and presidential elections scheduled for 2023.

► To read also:

"The vast majority of Syrian refugees in Turkey want to stay there"

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  • Turkey

  • Syria

  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan

  • Refugees