Barcelona star Arda Turan has been invited to Kilis, in south western Turkey to play football with Syrian child refugees by city mayor Hasan Kara.
Kilis is located close to the Syrian border and has received a huge influx in refugees fleeing the civil war.
See More: For the latest Arda Turan news and everything else you ever wanted to know about the Barcelona star
The population of Kilis is 94,000 but there are 135,000 Syrian refugees in camps outside the city according to Kara.
“We have many orphaned kids here but one thing they all have in common is their love for football,” Kara was quoted as saying by the Dunya newspaper.
“We organise tournaments and after each game the kids tell us they want to be Arda Turan and play football with him.
“We have invited him to Kilis and hopefully their dreams will come true.”
There are 2.8 million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey who had fled the war, most are living in the south-eastern region of the country near the border.
Turan may not end up being the only major footballing star to visit the child refugees – if he does end up visiting.
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to join Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie and feature in a Turkish television series called ‘Hayat Köprüsü’ based in Gaziantep which is located near Kilis.
The series will focus on a Syrian family fleeing the civil war and settling in Turkey.
The series director Eyup Dirlik was quoted by Turkish-Football.com as saying: “We will begin filming in the first week of April, the series is about the plight of a refugee family and what they go through. There will be appearances from actors and actresses from all over the world including Cristiano Ronaldo, Angelina Jolie and Nancy Ajram.”
