By Merve Aydogan
ANKARA (AA) – The U.K.'s top envoy in the Turkish capital has praised Turkey's efforts in tackling the refugee crisis, saying, “it is a model for other countries “.
“Because of Turkey’s amazingly generous response to the civil war in Syria, in the last five years, Turkey has changed from being a transit country to a destination hub for migrants, ” the newly-appointed U.K. envoy to Turkey Dominick Chilcott told Tuesday a meeting on “Migration: Global Challenges, Local Perspectives ” in Ankara.
Defining Turkey's efforts in the refugee crisis as “great humanitarian effort “, he said: “The way Turkey has integrated refugees into their health, education and other systems is a model for other countries in responding to a surge of refugees. All of us in the international community are learning lessons from Turkey on how to respond to protracted refugee crises. ”
He further recalled the U.K.'s joint efforts with Turkey in the refugee crisis and stated the U.K. with Turkish partners was running “13 projects with a budget of about $5 million, ” under “the Migration Returns Fund ” program.
