Atalay: Turkey is hosting nearly 400,000 Syrians

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said that Turkey was hosting nearly 400,000 Syrian citizens. Atalay delivered a speech at the 3rd Arab-Turk Social Sciences Congress at Istanbul University on Thursday. He said that Turkey was currently hosting about 400,000 Syrians who fled from the crisis in their homeland. Palestinian Minister of Sports, Youth & Culture Mohammed Al-Madhoun, who also spoke at the Congress, said that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's upcoming visit to Gaza was very important and added, "Turkey is always our most reliable friend both in the past and in the future." Madhoun thanked for Turkey's support so far, and said that blood of Turks and Palestinians had mixed during the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010, where Turkish citizens were killed by an Israeli attack aboard the vessel.