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Turkey FM denies claim on plan to establish hub for Afghan refugees

August 23, 2021 at 1:42 pm

Afghans continue to wait around the Hamid Karzai International Airport as they try to flee the Afghan capital of Kabul, Afghanistan on August 21, 2021 [Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat/Anadolu Agency]

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry yesterday denied claims made by UK media outlets that there had been efforts to establish an asylum processing centre in Turkey for Afghan asylum seekers.

“The news in the UK press saying there are plans to establish an asylum processing center for Afghan asylum-seekers in Turkey does not reflect the truth,” the ministry said in a written statement.

“No official request has been conveyed to us from any country up until today. Should there be such a request, we would not accept it anyway,” it added.

This statement came after the British newspaper the Mail published an article on the Afghanistan refugee issue. It said the Ministry of Defence “is looking at establishing hubs in countries such as Pakistan and Turkey”.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has made clear that it will not bear the burden of the migration crises experienced as a result of the decisions of third countries.

Turkey hosts nearly four million refugees – more than any country in the world. After the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, Turkey adopted an “open-door policy” for people fleeing the conflict, granting them “temporary protection” status.

READ: Turkey cannot bear additional wave of migrants, insists Erdogan