At a cost of $500 million each month, Turkey staggers under growing refugee burden
Turkey’s spending on refugees has soared by an astonishing $1.5 billion in three months, and that figure doesn't include many other related costs.
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On July 9, during an address to foreign ambassadors in Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had spent more than $6 billion to take in 2 million refugees, including 1.7 million Syrians and 300,000 Iraqis.
On Oct. 5, at a business gathering in Belgium, he noted Turkey’s spending for refugees has exceeded $7.5 billion.