It is considered a symbol of humanity, because of the embrace it provided to Syrian refugees fleeing the war in Syria, is the city of Kilis, which is adjacent to the Turkish-Syrian border.
The number of Syrians in Kilis exceeds the number of Turks themselves, as the number of Syrians is 131,000 and its population of Turks is 99,000. This is one example out of many, of how Turkey deals with refugees in general, and with Syrians in particular.
The proximity of the Turkish city to the borders of Syria made it a refuge for its people, to shelter them from the ongoing war in Syria since 2011, as well as from the deteriorating humanitarian and economic situation in Syria after the events it is witnessing now.
And Kilis did not stand in front of its Syrian brothers only, with all the blood it shed as well. On several previous occasions, the city of Kilis was bombed with missiles by the “Syrian” Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), and many Turks were injured, according to the Anadolu Agency.
The history of the region goes back nearly 6,000 years, when the Muslim Arabs conquered it during the reign of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, and expelled the Byzantines from it. After the fifth century, both the Arabs and the Byzantines took turns controlling it, until the region finally became subject to Ottoman control in the fifteenth century AD. .
In 1927, it was considered a district of the city of Gaziantep and one of the cities of the Turkish Republic, and in 1995 it became a stand-alone Turkish province.
Kilis is famous for its cuisine, which combines Turkish foods with Syrian Arab foods. It is also famous for its crafts and handicrafts. Among its most famous products are laurel soap and olive oil, which comes from the many olive trees in it, in addition to all that is produced from grapes.
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