Turkey looking to keep fleeing Syrians in Syria

Turkey’s deputy prime minister says his country’s priority is to keep fleeing Syrians within the borders of their country and provide them with assistance there.

Tens of thousands of Syrians have massed at the Turkish border in recent days, escaping a Syrian government onslaught around the city of Aleppo. Turkey kept the border closed for a fourth day on Monday and it was not clear if the refugees would be allowed in.

Numan Kurtulmus says after a cabinet meeting that Turkey would care for Syrians outside of Turkey “as much as possible.”

He says some 77,000 Syrians are being given assistance in displaced persons camps in Syria along the border with Turkey, including those who arrived recently.

Kurtulmus says that an estimated 600,000 Syrians could mass at the border in the “worst case scenario.”

— AP