Romanian princess meets Syrians in Turkey

By Irfan Aydogdu and Halil Fidan

GAZIANTEP, Turkey (AA) - Princess Marie of Romania Thursday visited Syrians living in Turkey’s southeastern provinces bordering Syria.

Accompanied by Romania’s ambassador to Turkey Gabriel Catalin Sopanda and Undersecretary Ionel Dumitru, Princess Marie met with Syrians in Gaziantep and Sanliurfa provinces.

Briefed about the living conditions and services offered to the refugees in Gaziantep, she later visited education centers and recreational facilities provided for them suffering from the civil war in Syria.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.

The Romanian committee and World Health Organization’s representative for Turkey Pavel Ursu later visited Syrians living in a migrant health and education center in Sanliurfa.

Turkey currently hosts almost 4 million registered refugees -- out of which nearly 3.6 million are Syrians.

The committee later visited Gobeklitepe, -- the world's oldest temple in Sanliurfa -- Balikligol, and Archeology Museum.

*Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur