Refugee influx to Turkey sharply rises
In the past five months, 551,000 new refugees arrived in Turkey, raising the total number to 3.551 million and the monthly cost to host them to $590 million.
Despite some imposed restrictions, Turkey’s open door refugee policy has resulted in an explosion of refugees and immigrants over the past five months. In his address to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 20, 2016, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was hosting 2.7 million Syrians and 300,000 Iraqis.
On Feb. 15, Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu announced that the total number of refugees and immigrants has reached some 3.551 million.
In the five months between these two official statements, 551,000 more people have entered Turkey. Of course along with the number of people, their expenditures also rose. When the number of people hosted were 3 million, the monthly average expenditures for them was about $500 million.
When the 18% increase in number of refugees is applied to the expenditures, we can estimate that Turkey is now spending approximately $590 million a month.
