Amnesty International: Turkish gov failing to protect - 1.6 million Syrian refugees brace for brutal winter in Turkey.

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Amnesty International: Turkish gov failing to protect - 1.6 million Syrian refugees brace for brutal winter in Turkey.. (TodaysZaman).

With the arrival of winter weather and snowfall last week, increased hardship lies ahead for approximately 1.6 million Syrian refugees who have fled to Turkey since a civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.

Speaking to Sunday's Zaman on the phone, Yasemine, the director of a charity group called “Help the Syrians in İstanbul,” drew attention to the fact that many refugees crossed the border in late September. “It was still summer and they ran for their lives in summer clothes. Now, the conditions have changed and winter has come. What we see is that those people have almost nothing to wear and are trying to survive under really [harsh] conditions,” Yasemine said.

According to the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD), the number of Syrians in Turkish refugee camps and cities has reached 1.6 million. The Turkish government was initially praised for its open-door policy towards Syrian refugees and its humanitarian work in its camps. However, complications have arisen since only 30 percent of the refugees live in the 22 state-run camps, and the government does not supply the rest who live outside the camps with shelter or food even though winter has arrived.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) released an announcement on its website last week asking donors for $500 million to shelter, feed, clothe, vaccinate and otherwise care for the humanitarian needs of the Syrian refugees in host countries, including Turkey, and the millions of people who have been displaced within Syria.

Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog, released a written statement last week in which it accused countries hosting Syrian refugees -- including Turkey and Lebanon -- of failing to offer protection to them. Read the full story here.