How did Ankara's spending on Syrian refugees jump to $25 billion?
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently claimed Turkey spent $25 billion on Syrian refugees, although he had cited $10 billion in February and even the number of refugees did not change.
![RELIGION-RAMADAN/TURKEY-CAMP A general view of the Harran refugee camp is seen in the Sanliurfa province, Turkey, June 6, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTSGANU](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2016/09/RTSGANU.jpg/RTSGANU.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=_Vn-MztP)
In his recent address to the UN General Assembly's annual meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had spent $25 billion for Syrian refugees. This number caught everyone off guard, because until now Turks were told that their country had spent $10 billion for Syrian refugees.
On July 9, 2015, Erdogan said that Turkey had spent $6 billion for Syrian refugees between 2011 and June 2015. On Oct. 5, 2015, however, the Turkish president said the sum was actually $7.5 billion. Head of Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency Fuat Oktay had spoken of $10 billion as of February 2016.