Over 110,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey

A total of 110,649 Syrian refugees are currently staying in Turkey after fleeing clashes in their country, a Turkish official statement said Friday. Turkey has set up five tent cities in Hatay province in southern Turkey, two in Sanliurfa province, three in Gaziantep province in the southeast, and one each in the provinces of Osmaniye, Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman, and one container city in Kilis, according to the statement issued by Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD). The statement said that Syrian citizens taking shelter in Turkey were provided with lodging, food, health services, security, social activities, education, religious services, translation services and communications. It added that 155,662 Syrian refugees fled to Turkey so far but 45,013 of them returned to Syria. Syria is in a dire situation from a political crisis which started in March 2011 between the opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The crisis has since spilled over and affected neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq with refugees streaming in.