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Turkey’s Border Crisis

Tulin Daloglu reports from a refugee camp on Turkey’s border with Syria that the time has come for Turkey to accept international assistance to deal with Syrian refugees.

Syrian refugee boys hold up a poster of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad at Reyhanli refugee camp in Hatay province on the Turkish-Syrian border March 18, 2012. Over the past few weeks, the number of Syrians crossing has increased dramatically with an average of 200 to 300 now coming into Turkey every day. This week 1,000 crossed in just 24 hours, the highest number since the first wave of refugees last summer. Around 15,000 registered Syrian
Syrian refugee boys hold up a poster of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. — REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Nizip, Turkey — More than 220,000 Syrian refugees live in Turkey, including 136,500 who live in makeshift camps on the border. Those numbers will continue to grow as long as Turkey continues its open-border policy.

Although Turkey has asked the international community for help with humanitarian aid, the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not want to share control of the border camps.

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