World Refugee Day

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Turkey Representative Ms.
Carol Batchelor, stating that as of 2013 more than 50 million people have been forced to flee their
homes, seek asylum in other places within their own country or in other countries, noted as follows: "If
these people were to constitute a country, this would be the world's 26th or 27th most populous
country in the world."

Speaking to the Anadolu Agency reporter in the context of the World Refugee Day, Ms. Batchelor stated
that World Refugee Day is a good occasion to commemorate the people forced to flee their homes and
start living under conditions no human being should find himself/herself in.

Describing refugees as "people who have managed to survive", Ms. Batchelor stated as follows: "Refugees
are people struggling with traumas, rebuilding their lives and building a new future. In order to do this,
they only need a new platform. That is the reason why we commemorate refugees today."

- The highest number recorded since World War II

Ms. Batchelor, stating that global forced displacement reaches its highest in 2013 since World War II
according to the Global Trends report released by UNHCR today, said that "today worldwide more than 50
million people have been forced to flee their homes, seek asylum in other places within their own country
or in other countries." Ms. Batchelor followed: "If these people were to constitute a country, this would
be the world's 26th or 27th most populous country in the world."

Stating that "this is a crisis", Ms. Batchelor added that "we might express the numbers (of asylum seekers
and refugees), the statistics; but the people in question here are the women, children, youngsters, elders,
that is to say individuals who are the future of different countries."

Pointing out that more than half of the refugees worldwide are children, Ms. Batchelor stated that "these
children are the future of countries they come from."

Stating that people have come to react to visual images more strongly, Ms. Batchelor explained that
"exodus of people from one place to another, their being located in camps and setting up the camps
make it to the news. However, most of us do not see the real news at home. This is the child losing his/her
parents, finding himself/herself in a country where a totally different language is spoken and arriving in a
country where you do not know where to go or what to do."

- The UN does not have its own territory where refugees can live

Explaining the function of UNHCR as "identifying refugees, responding to their needs, and preventing
them from returning to the place where their life would be at risk and rebuilding a new future for them";
Ms. Batchelor stated as follows: "This, by definition, means constantly working with the states. UN does
not have its own territory where refugees can go and live. Refugees will always flee from one country to
another. Therefore, we are working in very close co-operation with the states."

Emphasizing that it is not only enough to provide refugees with shelter and security, Ms. Batchelor stated
that the most important is to enable the people to have a future as these are the people who will return
and rebuild their countries. Ms. Batchelor added that this is an investment, from the perspective of all
countries, in peace and stability.

- Turkey is the 5th country hosting largest number of refugees

Stating that Turkey is the 5th country hosting largest of refugees next to Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon and
Jordan; Ms. Batchelor stated that "as well as appreciating the flexibility, the will to survive and the desire
to contribute to the society of the refugees, we also appreciate countries extending a safe zone and
protection to them", adding that "today, Turkey is one of the countries doing this in the world."

Saying that Turkey's tradition to host refugees dates earlier in the history, Ms. Batchelor continued her
remarks as follows: "Turkey has a hospitality culture and humanism tradition. For centuries, many people
have found the occasion to find asylum in Turkey and start a new life. We are grateful to Turkey and
Turkish people for sustaining and continuing this tradition today. From this perspective, Turkey sets a
clear example of what is possible to do when the decisiveness to ensure security is present."

- A call to ease visa application requirements for Syrians

Reminding that Turkish authorities had announced the number of Syrians in Turkey standing at one million,
Ms. Batchelor, said that "Geographically speaking, Turkey might be located at the doorstep of Syria, but
this represents a responsibility every one of us should share" . Ms. Batchelor continued her remarks as
follows: "As UNHCR, we have called all countries to ease their visa application requirements and
conditions allowing entry into country vis-a-vis Syrians. This is not only a responsibility for countries
bordering Syria, but also for all countries where Syrians find themselves in."

Pointing out that the Syrian crisis has been on-going for almost 4 years, Ms. Batchelor noted that UNHCR
established a Regional Response Plan for Refugees in the first year of the crisis and within the framework
of this plan, it is co-operating with every actor willing to contribute to addressing needs arising from
emergency in Syria, ranging from states, non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, private initiatives
to individuals.

Stating that UNHCR is calling international community to provide assistance to countries hosting Syrian
refugees, Ms. Batchelor stated as follows: "Our requests differ from country to country as needs in each
country differ from one to another. In Lebanon, today, one in every 4 people is Syrian. This corresponds to
25% of the country's population. One quarter of people making use of country's resources are Syrian. This is
a very serious crisis for a small country like Lebanon, not having many resources. Therefore, our call for
this country should be proportionate to this. Turkey is bigger, has higher number of resources;
therefore, we take into consideration these in our call for Turkey. Despite this, we believe Turkey should be receiving
stronger assistance by the international community."

Stating that Turkey is the 2nd country hosting largest number of Syrian refugees, Ms. Batchelor went on as
follows: "Turkey hosts many Syrians in the camps it has set up and it operates. It has been extremely
consistent, and the quality of the support provided is very high. However, there are so many Syrians in the
country that it is not possible to accomodate all in the camps. On the other hand, the longer a crisis lasts, however
well the people are assisted, they cannot deal with the psychology of staying in camps, and they would
leave the camps and move to cities."

- Gulf states have started providing assistance

A positive development arising with the Syrian crisis is that some countries which have not been using
traditional channels of international aid and used to provide aid in mutual relationships have started
providing support. In this context, Ms. Batchelor recalled Gulf States and especially Kuwait. Ms. Batchelor
stated that in Syrian crisis some South American countries alongside Korea and Japan have started making
considerable contribution and added as follows: "This is an international crisis. This is not a crisis of one
country or one region. Each and every country should contribute to the extent its capacity allows."

Describing the stance of Turkish people vis-a-vis Syrian refugees as 'extremely supportive and generous',
Ms. Batchelor continued her remarks as follows: "Just like all the refugees, we are at a point to support
host communities as well. For instance in Kilis, the population used to be 85,000 but now there are
currently more Syrians than the local community. Therefore, the resources have proven insufficient.
Municipal services have not been planned for a population of this number of people. At this point we also
want to make our own contribution. According to information provided by Turkish authorities, some 3
billion USD has been spent for Syrian refugees and our financial support as contributing states, NGOs and
other institutions cannot get anywhere close to this figure but in other cities like Kilis we can assist, for
instance, by providing mobile health centres, which might alleviate the pressure on the local community."

- Resettlement Plan

Sharing that a resettlement plan for Syrian refugees in 2014 is being drafted, Ms. Batchelor stated that an
opportunity to establish a new life in third countries for refugees who cannot go back to their countries of
origin will be provided.

Stating that some countries have volunteered to offer this opportunity to refugees, Ms. Batchelor added
that that "this is also a way to contribute to solving the crisis. Providing assistance does not only mean
providing money, assistance might come in many different forms."

(This is an unofficial translation of the original news article.)