KILIS
Actress and UN goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres on Thursday visited a refugee camp in southern Turkey which shelters nearly 13,000 Syrians who fled the relentless violence that has engulfed their country for 18 months.
"It is very generous of the Turkish government to set up such a wonderful camp. This is really impressive," Jolie told reporters after visiting the Oncupinar camp, one of several such sites erected by the Turkish government to handle the influx of Syrian refugees whose number in Turkey has exceeded 80,000.
Jolie visited the camp's daycare center and its hospital along with Guterres and Turkish officials.
"As the UN high commissioner for refugees, I am very much pleased with what I have seen at this camp, and I am grateful for the Turkish government's generosity," Guterres told reporters.
"It is imperative that the international community should show solidarity and extend support so that these high standards could be sustainable and they could materialize elsewhere," he added.
More than 27,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict erupted in March last year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UN puts the death toll at 20,000.
The crisis has also forced 235,000 Syrians to flee to neighboring countries, according to official UN figures.
Angelina Jolie visits another refugee camp in Turkey
Angelina Jolie and Antonio Guterres on Thursday visited a refugee camp in Islahiye town of southern Gaziantep province in Turkey.
The Islahiye tent city shelters nearly 8,000 Syrians who fled the relentless violence that has engulfed their country for 18 months.
Islahiye district Governor Osman Beyazyildiz, Mayor of Islahiye Malike Uludag welcomed Jolie and Guterres at the tent city.
More than 27,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict erupted in March last year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UN puts the death toll at 20,000.
The crisis has also forced 235,000 Syrians to flee to neighboring countries, according to official UN figures.