“We have not been officially informed about the arrival of migrants by the country’s official institutions. So we are in the situation when we are making all the statements about the situation based on rumors,” Mustafa Tosun said in an interview with RT.
He added that the town didn’t have enough facilities and infrastructure to provide refugees with normal living conditions such as adequate housing or health service.
“Our hospitals are just enough for our citizens, when the refugees will come they will suffer from it as well as our citizens,” the mayor warned.
In winter the population of the seaside town is only 40,000 people, yet it may surge up to 400,000 by summertime. Local officials warned that if Ankara confirmed its decision to set up a refugee camp there, the situation could spiral out of control.
“We already have a great lack of security, how would we take the necessary security measures when they put a refugee camp here?!” Mayor Tosun exclaimed.
Under the deal, Turkey pledged to take back all illegal migrants who arrive in the European Union through its border and sending legal Syrian refugees to the bloc on a one-for-one basis.
The Turkey-EU deal on returning illegal migrants in exchange for Syrian war refugees came into force on Monday.
