Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu: Turkey badly managed refugees

The new Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, has said the country's policy towards refugees has been mishandled.

More than 3.5 million Syrian refugees are now living in Turkey and hundreds of thousands are living in Istanbul, putting a strain on infrastructure and community relations.

He told Hartalk's Zeinab Badawi: "It is not only Istanbul. There are some parts of Turkey where the refugees outnumber the actual residents. No country in the world would accept this and nor should they.

"It is not natural and the issue of refugees was badly handled and people became unhappy."

The issue was thought to be a factor in Mr Imamoglu's victory which was seen as a major blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK party and a rebuke to the government.

Watch the full interview on Tuesday 16 July 2019 on BBC World News or watch again on BBC iPlayer (UK only)