Refugees of the Syrian Civil War

Volkan Bozkır, The Turkish diplomat heading the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), said on March 31 that he will depart on his first official trip since taking office to visit Turkey, Qatar and Azerbaijan.

He said his stops will include Hatay in Turkey where he will meet Syrian refugees and visit the U.N. cross-border humanitarian mechanism.

Turkey is currently hosting more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, the country's interior minister said on March 31. 

"The number of Syrians under temporary protection in our country is 3,664,873," Süleyman Soylu said, addressing immigration officials in the northwestern Balıkesir province at an annual evaluation meeting.

As the civil war in Syria marks its 10th year, Turkish officials reiterated the calls for "international solidarity and burden-sharing" for displaced Syrians.

The European Union's preferred areas in lending the millions of Syrian refugees a helping hand will continue to be education and health, the EU's envoy to Turkey has said, as European leaders will discuss how to continue cooperation with Turkey at a summit on March 25 and 26.

The European Union will seek the renewal of the 2016 migration deal with Turkey, the EU foreign policy chief said on March 15. 

The U.N. special envoy for Syria on March 15 praised Turkey's efforts in hosting Syrian refugees. 

In a virtual press conference, Geir Pedersen reaffirmed his call for a nationwide cease-fire in Syria and said the situation in Idlib has been "relatively calm" for over a year.

Turkey, which hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, deserves more support, while UNICEF is supporting education activities for Syrian children in Turkey, UNICEF Representative to Turkey Regina De Dominicis said on the 10th anniversary of the start of the Syrian civil war.

The Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH) distributed blankets and fuel to Syrian refugees living in sub-human conditions in Lebanon.

Emre Kaya, the Middle East Desk coordinator for İHH, said the Lebanese city of Arsal was home to nearly 60,000 Syrian refugees who are struggling to survive in make-shift tents in harsh winter conditions.

The residence permit applications of foreign nationals who want to reside in Istanbul's Esenyurt, a district on the far western side of the city, and Fatih, also known as "historical peninsula," have been restricted.

The European Union plans to spend hundreds of millions of euros over the next year helping refugees living in Turkey most of them people who fled the war in Syria.