Gaziantep Metropolitan Mayor Fatma Şahin gave information about the services made to the city between the years of 2014-2017 and explained the education, work life and other needs, especially the housing of the Syrian refugees, the workings in the field of tourism and the structural transformation of the city.

Stating that the Syrian refugees who took refuge in Turkiye's various provinces due to the civil war in their countries settled usually in the border provinces, Şahin said that Gaziantep is the city with the most refugees with Şanlıurfa.

“We are the city with the most refugees with Şanlıurfa”

Şahin stated that Gaziantep has embraced Syrian refugees, “It is not possible to be affected from around our circle of fire. Gaziantep model became a model for Turkiye. Turkiye by applying the open-door policy, have kept thousands of people alive. We have opened our doors, our meal and our heart to those guests came to our borders.”

Şahin said that while schooling rate for Syrian children is 30 percent in Turkiye, Gaziantep had doubled this rate, saying that 70 thousand Syrian children were educated:

"For the refugee issue, the most important issue in the middle and long-term was education. 125,000 children under 18 years of age had to be educated. We had initiatives in Ankara for this and changed the relevant regulations and reached to 70,000 refugee children at the end of 3.5 years. The rate of schooling among Syrian is 30 percent in Turkiye, while in Gaziantep this rate is doubled, which means more teachers, stronger investigation, and more schools.”

“Neither EU nor UN gave adequate support for the Syrians”

Adding that adequate support has come for Syrian refugees neither from EU nor the UN, Şahin finally said:

“As a metropolitan city, we are building 50 thousand houses. This residential project is very important for the middle sector. There is no other municipality school in Turkiye apart from ours. As a municipality, we have both our school and our hospital, we have to do this, otherwise, the orphan children who have escaped from the war would be unprotected. Neither EU no the UN gave adequate support for the Syrians. We have received the greatest support from the Japanese prepared especially for infrastructure projects problems.” (İbrahim Koçyiğit - ILKHA)