Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Türkiye + 1 more

ACAPS Briefing Note: Displacement of Syrian Kurdish Refugees into Sanliurfa Province, Turkey (23 September 2014)

Attachments

On 16 September, Islamic State (IS) launched another offensive on the Kobane area in northeastern Syria, controlled by Kurdish forces. Kobane city, with a population of 400,000, is under siege. The city had been relatively stable during the conflict and was host to 200,000 IDPs.

On 19 September, Turkey reopened parts of its border with Syria, and as of 22 September, 130,000 Syrian refugees had crossed into Turkey’s Sanliurfa province. This is the largest displacement over such a short time span since the start of the war.
Large concentrations of refugees are in Suruc and also in Dikmetas. Numbers are expected to continue to rise in the coming days.

Turkey already sustains more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees and this latest influx outstretches local capacities, particularly since the number of refugees outside of camps continues to rise in Turkey. On 22 September the US and a coalition of allies began flying air strikes on IS targets in Syria.