Jolie praises Turkish refugee efforts, saddened by Syria
- 12 years ago
Many Hollywood stars speak out about world crises.
But few are found on the frontline as often as Angelina Jolie.
The actrees toured Turkish refugee camps on Thursday, meeting some of the 80,000 Syrian refugees there.
Jolie is a U.N. refugee special envoy, trying to draw attention to the 250,000 Syrians who have fled a conflict that has killed around 27,000 people.
The Kilis camp in Turkey houses around 15,000 refugees.
(SOUNDBITE) United Nations Refugee Special Envoy, Angelina Jolie, saying (English):
"As you meet with this people, met with many many families today, many children and they are very grateful to Turkey, very grateful to the Turkish people and they are very, very emotional, and very deeply saddened by the situation in Syria and very concerned about the families or the friends in their country."
Jolie was touring the Kilis camp with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres.
Refugees staying in the camp quickly formed a large group around the Hollywood star -- not unused to this sort of attention.
But many in the camp said not enough was being done to help them.
(SOUNDBITE) Syrian Refugee, Abu Omer, saying (Arabic):
"We don't expect anything from the United Nations. Nothing will come out. They have come here many times but nothing changed. They didn't put pressure on Syrian government to step aside and respect people's wishes."
(SOUNDBITE) Unnamed Syrian Refugee, saying (Arabic):
"We fled from heavy bombardments, escaping death but here we are dying slowly. Our children are sick but we cannot get any medication. There are many shortcomings here but we don't have choice. What shall we do, return to Syria and die?"
The U.N. refugee agency says the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey could reach 200,000.
Turkey is now asking for more help in dealing with them.
But few are found on the frontline as often as Angelina Jolie.
The actrees toured Turkish refugee camps on Thursday, meeting some of the 80,000 Syrian refugees there.
Jolie is a U.N. refugee special envoy, trying to draw attention to the 250,000 Syrians who have fled a conflict that has killed around 27,000 people.
The Kilis camp in Turkey houses around 15,000 refugees.
(SOUNDBITE) United Nations Refugee Special Envoy, Angelina Jolie, saying (English):
"As you meet with this people, met with many many families today, many children and they are very grateful to Turkey, very grateful to the Turkish people and they are very, very emotional, and very deeply saddened by the situation in Syria and very concerned about the families or the friends in their country."
Jolie was touring the Kilis camp with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres.
Refugees staying in the camp quickly formed a large group around the Hollywood star -- not unused to this sort of attention.
But many in the camp said not enough was being done to help them.
(SOUNDBITE) Syrian Refugee, Abu Omer, saying (Arabic):
"We don't expect anything from the United Nations. Nothing will come out. They have come here many times but nothing changed. They didn't put pressure on Syrian government to step aside and respect people's wishes."
(SOUNDBITE) Unnamed Syrian Refugee, saying (Arabic):
"We fled from heavy bombardments, escaping death but here we are dying slowly. Our children are sick but we cannot get any medication. There are many shortcomings here but we don't have choice. What shall we do, return to Syria and die?"
The U.N. refugee agency says the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey could reach 200,000.
Turkey is now asking for more help in dealing with them.