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ISTANBUL, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A senior UN official on Wednesday called for an end to the Syrian war, as delegates from some 150 countries and organizations are gathering here over how to tackle the mounting crisis of refugees.
"The horrific war in Syria must come to an end," declared UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson. "The end has to happen urgently, otherwise the only winner will be despair and terrorists, who gained the ground."
Addressing the opening ceremony of the 8th Global Forum on Migration and Development Summit meeting, the UN official cautioned that "our ability to respond to the migration refugee movement has been tested as never before."
Syria had a population of around 20 million before it plunged into chaos in March 2011. Now nine million of them are displaced, with 3.5 million fleeing to neighboring countries, mostly to Turkey.
"This challenge is not only a crisis of numbers, it is a crisis of solidarity," Eliasson said, calling it a global concern.
"Turkey has been at the heart of the refugee crisis," he added. "In this region, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq paid the high price of the horrific war in Syria, which must come to an end."
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for the establishment of comprehensive dialogue mechanisms and better cooperation to tackle the growing migration crisis.
"I call on the international community to write a success story until 2030 in solving the migration problems," said the premier, referring to a UN agenda adopted last month.
Russia's bombing raids in Syria, which began on Sept. 30, have added new concerns to Turkey, a neighbor facing a growing refugee crisis as well as security threat.
Syrian refugees are also using Turkey as a transit point to Europe. Thousands of them drowned when their boats capsized in the sea between Turkey and Greece.
Turkish coast guards have rescued 65,000 Syrian refugees so far this year.
