New refugee influx heading to Turkey from Syria: Erdogan

By Merve Yildizalp and Baris Gundogan

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AA) – Already hosting 4 million refugees, Turkey is facing a new refugee influx of 50,000 Syrians, the nation’s president said on Thursday.

“Turkey already hosts 4 million [refugees], now another 50,000 more are heading to our land from Idlib, [Syria],” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital.

Turkish president’s remarks came during a round table meeting on the priority of development and challenges with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as part of the Kuala Lumpur summit of Muslim world leaders.

Hundreds of government officials, businesspeople, representatives of civil societies and experts from different sectors across the Muslim world followed the meeting and asked questions to the leaders.

Answering a question on terrorism, Erdogan said: "They say 'we need to fight terrorism.' How will we fight terrorists? We cannot fight terrorism just using words, we need to take actions.”

"When we say 'we need to build a safe zone,' no one gives any support, but when it comes to weapons, the gun comes," Erdogan added.

* Writing by Fahri Aksut, Havva Kara Aydin