Syria Refugee Crisis Hits New Milestone; Number In Turkey Now Exceeds 1 Million

Syria Refugee Crisis Hits New Milestone
Syrian refugees walk among tents at Karkamis' refugee camp on January 16, 2014 near the town of Gaziantep, south of Turkey. Two weeks of battles between Syrian rebels and jihadists have killed at least 1,069 people, mostly fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday. Among the dead, not all of whom were identified, were 608 Islamist and moderate rebels, 312 jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and 130 civilians, the Britain-based group said. AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSE (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)
Syrian refugees walk among tents at Karkamis' refugee camp on January 16, 2014 near the town of Gaziantep, south of Turkey. Two weeks of battles between Syrian rebels and jihadists have killed at least 1,069 people, mostly fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday. Among the dead, not all of whom were identified, were 608 Islamist and moderate rebels, 312 jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and 130 civilians, the Britain-based group said. AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSE (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

ANKARA, June 19 (Reuters) - The number of Syrians who are housed in refugee camps and cities in neighboring Turkey has reached 1.05 million, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told a news conference on Thursday.

Ankara has maintained an "open border" policy to refugees fleeing the conflict between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels in Syria. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Toby Chopra)

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