Turkey to set up tent city for up to 80,000 Syrian refugees

Turkey has once again extended a hand to victims of the Syrian Civil War who arrived in Idlib after being evacuated from the moderate opposition-controlled part of the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.

Turkey started to set up a heat insulated tent for over 80,000 people who arrived in Idlib as part of the civilians the Free Syrian Army (FSA) soldiers assisted.

Part of the tent city is being established on a 70,000 sq-meter area in Sarmada town, which is located three kilometers from the Turkish border.

The larger part of the tent city will be in Kalbit town, where a 300,000-sq-meter area will be used as a tent city. The tent city will be capable of hosting 40,000 people in the first phase and will be enlarged to one square kilometer to accommodate 80,000 people.

Due to the 6-year-long war, Syrians cannot buy their daily necessities, as it is almost impossible to find or afford even water or bread.

The aid efforts are being conducted with the participation of Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), Turkish Red Crescent and IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation.

Russia and the Iran-backed Assad regime intensified its attacks on the Syrian province of Aleppo, located 50 kilometers from Turkey, on November 15, although it had been launching attacks on the city for weeks.

The heavy bombardment was followed by the evacuation of thousands of people from the opposition-controlled part of the city, as a result of international efforts.

Turkey became one of the largest relief for the victims of war, as the country has been hosting more than 3 million asylum seekers and refugees, predominantly people who fled the violence in war-torn Syria along with the humanitarian aid it sent in Syria.

Previously, Turkey introduced a plan to grant citizenship status to Syrian refugees it is currently hosting, an initiative also welcomed by the United Nations.

In the last six years, Turkey has spent more than $25 billion on refugees, while the total international aid provided was only worth $512 million.