EU envoy hails Turkey's Gaziantep for helping refugees

By Ozkan Beyer

GAZIANTEP, Turkey (AA) - The head of European Union (EU) delegation to Turkey Wednesday praised southeastern Gaziantep province for setting “a good example” by hosting huge numbers of Syrian refugees.

“The city is a very good example of wide range of cooperation that we have with Turkey, with dealing very depressing issues such as social aspects of Syrian population,” Christian Berger said during his meeting with the city's mayor.

He said their ongoing cooperation yielded fruit since schools have been built, clinics opened and training offered to Syrian refugees over the years.

He added: “Beyond that, EU cooperation with the city goes back many years as we have a lot of projects on agricultural area, in training of people, skills development, in supporting women.”

According to the UN, Turkey is the top refugee host in the world, being home to nearly 3 million Syrian refugees. This number accounts for over 50 percent of the 5.5 million Syrian refugees.

Gaziantep is currently hosting more 300,000 Syrians and remains very involved in EU projects to provide facilities to them.