When Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring into northeastern Syria on Oct. 9, one of the objectives cited was the creation of a safe zone to accommodate a good part of the nearly 3.7 million Syrian refugees the country hosts. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly asserted that the refugees have cost Ankara $40 billion and slammed Western countries for allegedly contributing next to nothing. Did Turkey really spend $40 billion on Syrian refugees? Are the Syrians living off of assistance or working under harsh conditions to earn a living?

The alleged $40 billion is not clearly identifiable in official records. Certain expenditures have been officially cited over the years, but the total is nowhere close to $40 billion. Even the Court of Accounts, the country’s top public auditor, has flagged ambiguities in spending and documentation.

After the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, Turkey adopted an “open-door policy” toward Syrians fleeing the conflict, granting them “temporary protection” status. It offered them various forms of assistance and helped coordinate international aid. According to the Interior Ministry, 3,667,000 Syrians were registered as individuals under temporary protection as of September, while some 360,000 refugees had returned home.

At an international gathering in February, Erdogan said Turkey had spent more than $37 billion of its own national resources on the refugees. By October, the figure had grown to $40 billion. The day after launching Operation Peace Spring, Erdogan threatened to unleash millions of refugees on Europe if the European Union labeled the operation an “invasion.” He charged that the EU had failed to deliver the “money it had promised” for supporting the refugees in Turkey. He added, “We have spent $40 billion so far. We could continue to spend, but we could also open the gates.”