Erdoğan: Turkey will never kick out refugees from Syria

Photo: AA

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President and Justice and Development Party Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has promised not to send refugees back.

Giving a speech at a ceremony for the 32nd anniversary of the foundation of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD), Erdoğan said Turkey will continue to embrace "our brothers and sisters who took refuge in our country."

"We are members of a culture that knows what muhajir and ansar are," he said, using terms making reference to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and those who helped him while he was emigrating.

The president's statement came a week after he announced a housing project for the "voluntary return" of about a million refugees to Syria.

"We are building these housings so that they can return to their homeland when they want. But we will never kick them out of this land," he remarked.

"We will continue to host them. We won't throw them into the hands of murderers," he added.

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