By Kerem Kocalar
GAZIANTEP (AA) - Syrian refugees in a Turkish refugee camp expressed deep gratitude towards Turkey, saying it had effectively saved their lives, treating them like brothers and providing for them.
"We haven’t seen refugee camps in other countries, but those who did say this place is like a palace in comparison,” Sih Diyab Ferruh, a refugee living in a camp in Gaziantep, Turkey, told Anadolu Agency this week, adding that he prays for Turkey.
Ferruh said four years ago he fled Aleppo – formerly Syria’s most populous city -- with his four children and settled at a refugee camp in Nizip in Gaziantep, Turkey’s southeast.
"One day Syria will be free again and we will go back to our homes. We won’t forget what Turkey and Erdogan did," he added, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Another refugee, Abu Ahmed, a former civil servant, said he has eight children and has been living in camps for four years.
"Turkey has treated us like brothers. It opened its doors. May Allah bless it. If Turkey did not exist, we would probably be dead now," he said.
Sheikh Mohammed, a refugee from Kobane, Syria – near the border with Turkey – who came to the Nizip refugee camp, said that the Assad regime always alienated him. He added that he has been at the camp for a year and is praying for the end of the war.
Mohammed also praised Turkey, saying he prays for it every night, as well as for his country’s liberation.
Turkey is hosting around 260,000 refugees in camps in its eastern/southeastern provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Kilis, Mardin, Kahramanmaras, Osmaniye, Adiyaman, Adana, and Malatya.
The camps, run with the support of many institutions, have been transformed into modern living spaces with infrastructure, social spaces, healthcare facilities, and education services.
Turkey now hosts some 3 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world. The country has spent around $25 billion helping and sheltering refugees since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.
Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.