At a cost of $500 million each month, Turkey staggers under growing refugee burden

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.