PM says victory near for Syrian armed insurgents against regime

Erdoğan also slammed a Syrian official who deemed the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to be terrorists, saying that the Syrians are fighting for human rights against a dictator.

The prime minister was addressing people in the town of Nizip in Gaziantep province on Sunday.

“You are taking care of the refugees, you have a connection with them,” said Erdoğan, greeting the people of Gaziantep, which borders war-torn Syria's Aleppo province.

“You have opened your arms [to the Syrian people] as a dictator is chasing his own people out. You have done what really befits our nation,” Erdoğan maintained.

“They [the Syrian regime] are examples of an understanding that can name their own people ‘terrorists.' On the contrary, the Syrian people are resisting violence, struggling against a dictator that deprives them of their rights in order to regain their rights. Syrians are just struggling to live with dignity and to live in peace,” the prime minister also stated.

Next, the prime minister visited Syrian refugees staying in Nizip.

The number of Syrian refugees being housed in Turkish camps currently exceeds 157,000 according to figures provided by the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD). The directorate announced figures related to health and education services being provided in the camps on Friday.

Of the 15 refugee camps in Turkey, five tent cities are in Hatay province, three are in Gaziantep, two are in Şanlıurfa and there is one in Kahramanmaraş, Osmaniye and Adıyaman. There are also container cities in the southeastern provinces of Kilis and Şanlıurfa. One more tent city is under construction.

‘If US right to occupy Iraq, Turkey justified in Syria'

On Saturday, Erdoğan also stated that if the US occupation of Iraq is seen as justified by the world, then Turkey has every right to intervene in neighboring Syria when needed, in his latest remarks on the Syrian crisis.

Speaking at the offices of the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) advisory council in Gaziantep, Erdoğan emphasized that developments in the 22-month Syrian crisis are just as important to Turkey as its own domestic issues.

“If the ones coming from tens of thousands of miles away and entering Iraq could be seen as right, we could not remain as though our hands are tied regarding Syria, with whom we share a 910-kilometer-long border. We could not just be spectators. We have to do what is needed, and we will do it,” Erdoğan claimed.

Erdoğan also slammed the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) for its stance on the Syrian crisis in his remarks. “We could not support tyrants, dictators and those who oppress their own people, as the CHP does. We could not be in the same picture, in a close embrace with them,” the prime minister maintained.

Erdoğan noted that Turkey could not stay silent or indifferent to the humanitarian tragedy in Syria, either.

The directorate has announced the concrete figures surrounding health and education services being provided in the camps on Friday.

According to AFAD, health clinics operating in the 15 camps in the country currently provide health services to 4,900 patients daily. Doctors have performed 8,770 surgeries to date, while 954 pregnant women have received health checks and doctors have assisted in 2,026 births. Health care services are provided for Syrian refugees by 143 doctors and 553 other health practitioners, as well as an additional 1,089 staff members. There are 34 ambulances available in the camps for emergencies.

As for education, the Turkish government is assisting 26,461 Syrian students with continuing with their education in 362 classrooms at the refugee camps. Syrian students are being instructed by 345 Turkish and 833 Arabic language-speaking teachers.

AFAD's fact sheets also note that 223,986 Syrians who fled the now 22-month-old civil war have crossed into Turkey since the uprising started in Syria and 66,496 of them have returned to their country. In just two days this week, 1,206 Syrian refugees crossed into Turkey.

Conflicts escalate near Hatay province

In the most recent conflict, Syrian armed insurgents and regime forces clashed on Sunday near the Yayladağı border gate in Hatay province.

Since intermittent conflicts continue in the town of Kasab, in Syria's coastal province of Latakia, Syrian refugees have continued to enter Turkey at Yayladağı, the Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.