Turkey Honored For Hosting Refugees

WASHINGTON – Acknowledging its notable efforts in offering support for refugees, a leading US Muslim advocacy group has granted Turkey a humanitarian award for opening its doors to millions of refugees every year.

“Just to give an example in this regard, during the last cours of the four years, Turkey has taken more refugees (only the number of Syrian refugees) than the US has taken in thirty years," the Turkish ambassador to the US, Serdar Kilic, was quoted by Anadolu Agency on Sunday, October 18.

The Turkish ambassador’s comments came after his country received the 2015 Humanitarian Award by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Kilic received the award during an annual ceremony of the organization held on Saturday, October 17.

The award honored the country for its humanitarian efforts towards Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Since 2011, Turkey has received more than 2.2 million Syrian refugees and 200,000 Iraqi refugees.

According to Kilic, his country has accepted the refugees regardless of their ethnicity or religion.

It has also allocated $7.6 billion for refugees since the war broke out four years ago in Syria.

"The international community failed to give assistance to the Syrian people who are fighting for their dignity, in Turkey or in the European states," the ambassador stated.

Meanwhile, the Turkish ambassador has called for collaborated international efforts to tackle the growing refugee crisis.

Welcoming the award, Kilic thanked CAIR for its efforts to stand in solidarity with American Muslims, saying that the feelings of CAIR for Turkey and its people made the award "much more valuable."

Some 350,000 migrants have made the perilous journey to reach Europe's shores since January this year, according to figures released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM said more than 2,600 migrants had drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean in the same period.

According to official figures, Muslims, mostly ethnic Turkish descendants of the Ottoman Empire's reach into Europe, make up more than 12 percent of Bulgaria's 7.8 million population.

The Muslim community’s population percentage in Bulgaria is the highest proportion in any European Union member state.

Source : http://www.onislam.net