Erdogan considers building 'Refugee city' in northern Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested building a new city in northern Syria to house the refugees, AFP reported referring to Erdogan’s speech in Istanbul late Friday

"I am going to tell you something. What is the formula? We found a city in the north of Syria," said Erdogan, quoted by the Anatolia news agency. He said that the city would be 4,500 square kilometres in area and its infrastructure could be built in cooperation with the international community. Refugees from Syria could be "resettled" there, he said.

According to the report, Erdogan told that the idea had been discussed with the US President. "We have discussed this with Mr Obama and even set the coordinates but it has not yet come to fruition," said Erdogan also giving no timescale for how the project could be realized.

The agency reminds that Turkey is currently home to an estimated 2.7 million Syria refugees who fled the five-year civil war.