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Refugees help spark Turkish trade with Syria

Despite the war, Turkish-Syrian trade is growing in several sectors, fueled in part by the influx of Syrian refugees.
Mahamet, a 17-year-old Syrian boy from Azaz, waits for customers in front of the jewellery shop where he works as a translator in Kilis on the Turkish-Syrian border March 18, 2014. The busy market district of Kilis in southeast Turkey is full of Syrian refugee children, repairing household goods, serving baklava and selling jewellery to become the main breadwinner of their families because their parents struggle to find jobs. The civil war in neighbouring Syria has killed more than 140,000 people and driven
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The number of Syrians who have crossed the 911 km (566 mile) land border to take refuge in Turkey has reached 800,000. About 250,000 of them are settled in refugee camps, while some have taken residence with relatives in Sanliurfa, Gaziantep and Kilis. Those who can afford it have rented homes near the border, while others have moved to larger Turkish cities.

To survive, Syrian refugees take any job they can find. Sowazaame work as garbage collectors, some in construction and small workshops and some beg in city streets. Syrians caught working illegally are subject to a fine of 759 Turkish lira ($364). Those who employ them are fined 7,612 lira ($3,647).

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