Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is urging the international community to step up efforts to address the refugee crisis which has uprooted thousands from their homes and caused them to risk their lives in a flight to safety in Europe, the Associated Press reported.
Davutoglu said the world is not doing enough to tackle waves of refugees and migrants fleeing upheaval in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
Of the 1.9 million Syrians who have fled to Turkey, only about 300,000 are in refugee camps, while the vast majority has taken up life in towns and cities along the border. Turkey this year began stopping cargo ships from taking Syrians and others to Italy. The Turkish action drove those migrants to try the shorter but dangerous Aegean Sea crossing to Greece.
He said the only way to prevent new waves of refugees is to stop the violence of the Syrian regime and the Islamic State group and with creation of safe areas for Syrians within their country.