Global General

Number of Syrians fleeing to Turkey nears 9,700

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-17 17:18

ANKARA - Number of Syrians fleeing violence at home and entering into Turkey has reached nearly 9,700, a Turkish border official said Friday.

Syrians seeking shelter in Turkey are accommodated in tent sites in Altinozu and Yayladag towns of southern province of Hatay, the official was quoted as saying by the semi-official Anatolia news agency.

Meanwhile, Hollywood star and UN refugee agency goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie is set to visit the tent sites in Hatay on Friday afternoon, according to the report.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday that Turkey had decided to supply humanitarian aid for 10,000 Syrian refugees gathering across Turkish border.

"We have decided to help our Syrian brothers to meet their urgent needs for food. Other humanitarian assistance also will be provided. There are more than 10,000 people at the moment just over Turkey's border, on the other side of the barbed wire," Davutoglu told reporters after meeting with Hasan Turkmani, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's special envoy, in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

Assad sent his envoy for talks in Ankara following a phone conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. The envoy and the prime minister held a three-hour talk on Wednesday night.