The swelling numbers of refugees on Turkish soil are putting an enormous strain on Ankara which is pushing for safe zones inside Syria to shelter them as it confronts security-related problems at home. More than 9,000 Syrians were waiting near the Turkish border on Monday for more camps to be set up to accommodate those fleeing the fighting in Syria, and Turkish officials fear this number is very likely to increase.

This month has seen mass arrivals from Syria as the fighting has intensified between President Bashar Al Assad’s loyalist troops and rebel forces in the northern city of Aleppo, some 50km south of the border. Over 80,000 refugees are registered in Turkish camps set up along the 910km border and this number stood at around 45,000 in late July.

With the latest influx, the Turkish government announced it could handle no more than 100,000 Syrians, and proposed creating safe zones inside Syria to accommodate the fleeing people.

“We articulated the number 100,000 as a psychological barrier,” a Turkish diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It does not mean that we’ll close the border, if the 100,001st Syrian wants to cross into Turkey,” he said.

Turkey has thus far allocated 300 million dollars for refugees and insistently called on the international community to share the burden out of fears that it may soon be unable to cope with new arrivals. Turkish officials have already begun distributing aid for refugees stranded on Syrian soil near the border.

While setting up additional camps in several provinces, further inside the country than hitherto, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is also expected to raise the issue of a safe zone on the Syrian side of the border at a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday in New York. Davutoglu is expected to hold bilateral talks with the French, German and British foreign ministers on the sidelines of the New York meeting.

Turkish diplomatic sources say a buffer zone or a no-fly zone are steps that can only be taken through “international legitimacy,” not unilaterally.

“We can set up a buffer zone or a no-fly zone but what’ll happen if a Syrian soldier reciprocates by firing a missile? That would automatically mean Turkey is at war with Syria,” indicated the sources. But Turkey is not very optimistic that a solution will come out of the UN Security Council meeting regarding the creation of a safe haven inside Syria, which would require military protection to the dismay of the regime in Damascus.

The refugee problem also poses a domestic challenge for the government which is under fire from certain quarters for sheltering Syrians who are accused of disturbing public order in border areas.

Local media have reported clashes between Syrian refugees, mostly Sunnis, and Alawite residents of the border provinces and quoted one Syrian telling Turkish Alawites: “After Assad, it will be your turn.” Assad is from Syria’s minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The protesters are Sunni Muslims.

In another example of trouble, some Syrians refused to pay in restaurants in the Antakya province saying “Let Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pick up the bill. It is him who invited us,” according to eyewitnesses.

Agence France-Presse