Mayor of Istanbul calls for safe return of refugees as their number hit 2.5 million

The Xinhua reported, Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Turkey's most populated city Istanbul, urged on Monday the world countries to extend "the highest level of international cooperation" for the safe return of refugees as their number hit 2.5 million in the city.

Imamoglu said: "Turkey's largest city Istanbul currently faced with nearly 2.5 million refugees, including asylum seekers and those who received their residence permits."

He noted, this population has matured in the past seven years, and it has been highly dramatic and laborious to cope with the entire process.

The Xinhua said, the mayor urged the world to scrutinize the flow of migrations caused by wars, famines, and different kinds of inequalities, and work together for solutions.

According to official figures, Turkey, a key transit point for asylum seekers on their way to Europe, is home to over 4 million refugees, including 3.7 million Syrians.

Source: xinhua