The Turkish government says the number of Syrians in refugee camps and other cities has reached over one million, as the bloody conflict in Syria rages on.
Paul, why is Turkey experiencing such a huge influx of these refugees?

Well, for the millions of civilians caught in Syria's civil war... they don't have much choice.
Looking to the east, Iraq -- as we just saw -- is suffering from its own violent crisis.
Turkey, meanwhile, shares a nine-hundred-kilometer border with Syria... towards the north.
The Turkish government has also been among the fiercest opponents of the Assad regime... and provides free education and medical services to Syrian refugee families.
Ankara has often seen Syria's three-year-long conflict spilling across its border... with mortar shells exploding on its soil and causing civilian deaths.
However, it continues to maintain an "open border" policy for refugees fleeing the conflict.


"We have 22 camps and each of them has a population of 35-40 thousand, like a small town. It has been four years and 218,637 refugees are sheltering at camps. Many others are housed in cities. Our assessments show that the number of Syrian refugees in camps and in the cities has reached 1.05 million."

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has also announced that Turkey would dispatch up to 100-thousand tents... along with food and medical supplies to the Iraqi city of Arbil to shelter Iraqi Turkmens.
Erdogan said the humanitarian aid would be part of a Turkish delegation being sent to the region.


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