According to Ankara, funds the European Union sent for the care of Syrian refugees in Turkey are still not being used to actively meet their needs.
"Unfortunately, the spending mechanism of the EU funds are not working fast," Turkey's EU Ministry said on Saturday.
READ MORE: Number of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon Dips Below 1Mln for First Time Since 2014
About 6 billion Euros in the form of financing has been allocated within the framework of two agreements signed between Brussels and Ankara in 2015 and 2016. The deal stipulates that Turkey must take care of refugees while its EU accession negotiations are implemented.
The ministry said that Ankara has used over $30 billion of its own finances to help Syrian refugees since 2011.
RT MiddleEastMnt "#Turkey says #EU funds not being actively used for needs of Syrian refugees | #SyrianRefugees https://t.co/MTht2gK32q"
— Richard Hardigan (@RichardHardigan) December 30, 2017
According to the ministry, the EU allocated only 1.78 billion euros for Syrian refugees out of the promised 6 billion euros.
Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011, thousands of Syrian refugees have left their homeland to seek refuge in neighboring countries. Turkey has serves as both a destination country and a transit country for refugees on their way to Europe. The ensuing migrant crisis led to the Brussels-Ankara deal, according to which, Turkey would take in refugees from Greece whose claim for asylum was rejected. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey, the total number of registered refugees from Syria is more than 3 million people. The UNHCR put that figure at 3.5 million as of October, 2017.
