Syrian refugees top 1.1m in Turkey

As the number of registered refugees in Turkey is being revised upwards by some 70,000 people, there are more than 1.1 million Syrians seeking asylum in the region, said the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday. According to UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards, Turkey has begun registering Syrian refugees living outside refugee camps and in urban settings. Previously, it had included in its official figures only those 186,000 living in the 17-government run camps, said Edwards. About 40,000 refugees in urban areas have been registered to date under the new policy with a further 30,000 waiting for appointments to register. Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, has signed a cooperation agreement with Turkish Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Agency (AFAD) to fund 10 registration centers, said Edwards.