Turkish deputy premier meets UN undersecretary

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay and UN Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos on Thursday met in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Speaking to reporters at the meeting, Atalay said Turkey had spent around $600 million for Syrians refugees in Turkey whose number was estimated to reach nearly 290,000.   Atalay said the UN Security Council must adopt a resolution on coordinating international relief efforts for Syrians which he said would make transportation of humanitarian assistance much easier.        Amos said, on her part, that theSyria crisis needed an urgent political solution. "But in the absence of that solution, we need to do all we can on the humanitarian side to support the people of Syria," she said. Amos said in terms of the UN response in Syria, the organization had developed appeals for the response insideSyria and in neighboring countries, adding that the UN asked for $1.5 billion for 6 months. "There was a Kuwait Conference at the end of January to try to raise that money. At that conference, $1.5 billion was in fact pledged. Now, we are working with the countries which pledged that money to turn it into money in the banks. So we can continue our operations," Amos said.