Turkey urges world to share Syrian humanitarian burden


The financial contribution Turkey has received from the international community to deal with Syria's humanitarian crisis amounts to only one-twentieth of the financial burden it shoulders, Turkey's ambassador to the U.N. said Thursday.Speaking to the U.N. Security Council, ambassador Yasar Halit Çevik said the financial burden on Turkey from the Syrian conflict amounted to $6 billion, while the total contributions it received stands at $300 million."I must stress that the current situation is not sustainable. Neither for Turkey nor for any other country in the region," he said.Turkey has become the world's largest refugee-hosting country, U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, announced on Thursday.The U.N. Refugee Agency said the country is hosting over 1.6 million Syrian refugees who have fled a civil war that has also paved the way for extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to gain a foothold in the region."Syria's neighboring countries, including Turkey, have so far assumed an unfair share of the humanitarian burden of the Syrian crisis," Çevik said. "They should not be left alone in coping with this humanitarian tragedy that requires a genuine partnership among all members of the international community."He said this partnership must address the refugee crisis, the resilience of host communities and increasing resettlement efforts "while at the same time bearing in mind the future human resources needs of the Syrian society for a sustainable development of post-conflict Syria."Syria has been gripped by almost constant fighting since the regime of President Bashar Assad responded to anti-government protests in March 2011 with a violent crackdown that sparked the conflict that has spiraled into civil war.As many as 3.8 million Syrian refugees are registered in neighboring Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, according to the U.N.