ISTANBUL - Kilis, a Turkish border city grappling with a population of Syrian refugees larger than its own,  has high hopes for the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit slated for May 23-24 in Istanbul.
When Kilis became the capital of the namesake province in 1996,  its infrastructure was designed to meet the needs of a population up to 115,000 by 2023.
Things have not turned out as expected, however. The city is now hosting some 130,000 Syrians fleeing from their war-torn country over the past five years.
The municipality used to collect 40 tons of garbage before the influx, now the figure has skyrocketed to 160 tons per year.
The need for purified water has tripled to 30,000 cubic meters daily, while the number of funeral services has risen to 1,600 from 700 per year.
The public green space per capita, meanwhile, has dwindled to only 1.1 square meters. “Suddenly we have been left with a population of refugees, which has outnumbered our own population of 93,000,” Mayor Hasan Kara told Xinhua over the phone. “Imagine a man who weighs 70 kilos and the next morning he wakes to a day when he weighs 700 kilos more,” he spoke of the dire situation facing his city using a metaphor. “Imagine the physiological and psychological trauma to him.”

“We do not share the same language with them,” the mayor said, adding “Our traditions, our culture and all are different.(Xinhua)