Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday called again for the creation of a safe zone inside Syria to host thousands of mostly Syrian migrants who are trying to cross into Europe from Turkish territory, AFP reported.
Davutoglu also rejected calls by EU members for migrants’ asylum claims to be handled in the countries from which they try to enter the bloc, telling Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet: “We have told Europe that there will be no reception centre in Turkey.”
Rather than creating such centers the EU should provide funding for setting up a safe zone in northern Syria free from attacks of Islamic State militants.
Turkey then could build three cities each hosting one hundred thousand people in the safe zone, Davutoglu said, according to AFP.
“If the area between Jarablus Azez was emptied, we can build three cities with a capacity of 100,000 each. We built similar ones after the 2011 Van earthquake. The EU can finance it,” he added. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
