Number 305 | January 10, 2017
Excerpt from The Boston Globe, Published on December 21, 2016
Because of its location and influence, Turkey is the key to any political settlement and remains at the center of humanitarian relief. Since 2011, Turkey has accepted three million refugees displaced by the civil war in Syria and by the atrocities of ISIS and Syria and Iraq. Turkey offers the refugees free health care and their children tuition-free elementary, secondary, and even university education, all at a cost to Turkey of more than $12 billion and counting.
Helping our neighbors comes naturally and is also in our own and our allies’ interest. Take educating refugee children. Without proper schooling and structure, these displaced youngsters mark an easy target for extremists, and we have seen all too often the result of radicalization. This year alone, Turkey enrolled nearly 500,000 refugee children, 150,000 more than in 2015.
Turkey spends billions of dollars and dedicates tremendous resources for the 260,000 refugees in government-run centers. Equally important is the generosity and activism of nongovernmental organizations that work with the Turkish government and citizens to provide essential services to the additional 2.7 million Syrians and other displaced people who have found shelter in Turkey’s cities and countryside.
-Ömür Budak
Ömür Budak is consul general of Turkey in Boston.
