Ankara, June 19 (IANS): The number of Syrian refugees who fled the war-torn country to neighbouring Turkey has reached 1.05 million, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told reporters Thursday.
Some 218,632 Syrian refugees are currently living in the 22 camps set up by the Turkish government, while the rest are spread in cities and towns across Turkey, the minister said, according to Xinhua.
Atalay added that the Turkish government has maintained an "open border" policy for Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict and also provided free education and medical treatment for them.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, an estimated nine million Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in March 2011.
About 2.5 million have fled to Syria's neighbours, including Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, while some 6.5 million are internally displaced in Syria.
Turkey, once an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is at present a leading voice calling for his ouster.