Over 3.5 million refugees now live in Turkey after having escaped the brutal conflict that has continued for over seven years in neighboring Syria. At the same time, there are at least half a million refugees from other parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa also living in the transcontinental country.

Many of these migrants settled in the country because of a deal Ankara struck with the European Union in 2016. -Newsweek

"There are 4 million refugees in Turkey. Even though they haven't integrated into Turkish society, they have benefited from a welcoming government. Erdo?an says he's spent $20 billion of unbudgeted funds on these people. It's quite clear these are unbudgeted expenditures he's been willing to spend. But if you add another million on top of that, who knows," Bulent Alizira, director of the Turkey program at the Washington, D.C.–based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsweek.