Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the United Union does not live up to their financial obligations under the Turkish-EU refugee deal.
The Turkish president said he told the Pope, the Italian president and the Italian prime minister that international actors should come together to help in the return of 3.5 million Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey.
"I told them that if they give us financial support we will do our best for them to return to their lands,” Erdogan told reporters while returning to Turkey from an official visit to the Vatican and Italy.
"Unfortunately the promises given to us have not been met. The EU told us that a total of 6 billion euros would be forthcoming for refugees. But so far only 900 million euros have come," Hurriyet Daily cited Turkey's President as saying.
He stressed that the money has not gone to Turkey’s national budget but to the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) through international organizations.
