ISTANBUL, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his country and Germany share a large part of the burden of Syrian refugees.
"It is a humanitarian responsibility of the European Union and the European countries to provide more and faster assistance to Syrians," Erdogan noted at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Istanbul.
Highlighting the recent attacks of the Syrian regime forces on the northern Syrian province of Idlib, the last stronghold of the rebels, Erdogan urged the international community to impose significant pressure on the regime to stop its "brutality," with an apparent concern that it would cause another influx of refugees into Turkey.
He said close to 400,000 people from Idlib have started moving toward Turkey's border to flee hostility in the region.
"The Turkish Red Crescent and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority have started their work to build shelters to protect these people from harsh winter conditions," Erdogan said.
Meanwhile, Merkel said Germany is ready to provide financial aid to improve the humanitarian situation of Syrian refugees who were forced to spend the winter in tents near the Turkish border.
"We will also try to help by constructing sound and concrete shelters for them," she said.
Turkey is hosting over 3.6 million Syrian refugees on its soil, costing more than 40 billion U.S. dollars until now.
Ankara agreed to help curb the flow of illegal immigrants to Europe under a deal signed with the European Union in March 2016, in return for a total of 6 billion euros (6.62 billion dollars) in financial aid for the refugees.
The issue has been causing strains in ties between the bloc and Turkey, as Ankara has been urging the European countries to increase the funding.
"The EU had promised 6 billion euros of support, but not even 3 billion euros were given to international NGOs," Erdogan noted.
