- Title: Norway's Egeland criticises Erdogan plan to resettle Syrian refugees
- Date: 17th December 2019
- Summary: PHOTO OF FEMALE REFUGEE
- Embargoed: 31st December 2019 16:25
- Keywords: Erdogan Jan Egeland Syria Turkey secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002BAD57WN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's plan to resettle one million Syrian refugees in a "peace zone" in northern Syria presented on Tuesday (December 17) at the U.N.'s Global Refugee Forum was met with scepticism by Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Egeland, a former U.N. emergency relief coordinator, said that while Turkey was far ahead in terms of hosting refugees, resettling Arab refugees in areas previously populated by Kurds was wrong.
It was not the first time President Erdogan spoke about this plan, and in an interview with Reuters on the eve of the forum, Egeland insisted it should not happen and that a better solution needed to be found for Syrian refugees.
Erdogan, whose country hosts 3.7 million Syrian refugees, the largest refugee population worldwide, urged world powers on Tuesday to help it resettle one million Syrian refugees very soon, accusing governments of moving more quickly to guard Syria's oil fields than its children.
(Production: Marina Depetris) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains photographs or artwork. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing this clip.