H.E. Mr. Mehmet Hakan Olcay:

Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, Turkey has followed a human-centred approach. We had our borders open to refugees. For the past ten years we have been providing many services to Syrian refugees, including counselling, language courses, vocational training, health, education and social services free of charge. The number of Syrian children born in Turkey since the beginning of the crisis and since their arrival into Turkey exceeds 700,000 newborns. There are more than 1 million school-aged children attending schools in Turkey. In the initial years the attendance rate was about 30% but, as of 2016, we have achieved a school attendance rate of 64.4%. The number of Syrians attending Turkish universities is about 40,000. This figure is higher for refugees because the global average is about 2% but in Turkey the average is about 7%. The healthcare sector is another area where we continue our efforts. To date, more than 2.2 million surgeries have been conducted on Syrians, inpatient treatment exceeds 2.7 million and the number of polyclinic visits is over 80 million. The committee will understand that the amount of resources needed to maintain this is quite high. The $40 billion I mentioned in my opening statement is just a rough estimate because it is not possible to quantify some of the services provided.

Providing only financial support is not a sufficient answer to solve the problem. We need to focus more on preparing the conditions that could facilitate returns of Syrians. That should be one of our primary tasks. Owing to our efforts and the operations we had in the border region - we have a 900 km joint border with Syria - almost 500,000 Syrians have been able to return to Turkey in the past year or so. The returns have to be safe, dignified and voluntary, based on legal guarantees and in line with international law. The process has to be co-ordinated with the United Nations, and priority should be given to the return of internally displaced peoples and to the prevention of new displacements in Syria. UN Security Council Resolution 2254 gives the framework for resolving the crisis. There are two process continuing. One is the Geneva process and the other is the Astana process, in which we take part as well. If the new constitutional commission can establish a new constitution for the Syrians and if the will of the Syrian people is taken into consideration, I think that would be the only way of resolving the problem. In the meantime we have to make sure we preserve the territorial integrity of Syria from other sources.