DEPUTY SECRETARY HIGGINBOTTOM: When we were planning today’s event, we wanted to make
sure that it would take place in this very room.
As Denis said, this is the Ben Franklin Room, named after our nation’s first diplomat
and one of the most brilliant scientific and literary minds in American history.
Ben Franklin charted the Gulf Stream.
He pioneered the study of electricity.
And he helped forge a new ethos of self-government that shaped our young nation.
In other words, he was a problem-solver, one of our history’s, one of our nation’s
greatest.
There wasn’t a flash of lightning or a gust of wind or even a drop of liquor that didn’t
pique his intense curiosity.
He looked at problems in new ways – not as difficulties over which to despair, but
as challenges to be solved.
And today, I can’t imagine a setting more fitting or a spirit more apt to inspire and
strengthen the sense of purpose for which we come together.
A little over a year ago, I visited a refugee camp near Adana, and I met families who had
lost their homes, children who’d lost their parents, and parents who had lost sons and
daughters.
I met only a few dozen people that day, but we know there are 16 million people like them
who have been affected by the tragedy of the Syrian crisis.
As you’ll hear this morning, 7 million of them are children – a number almost too
difficult to fathom.
But these are not just numbers.
These are children clinging to stuffed animals whose entire worlds have been crammed into
small backpacks hanging from their weary shoulders.
These are women who have seen bombs destroy their neighborhoods and felt hunger eat away
at their courage.
These are men anxious to find safety, a good job, and new beginnings for their families
against all odds.
Forced to flee their homes, these families hope beyond hope they will find safe places
to start over.
Thanks in great part to your organizations many of them have found shelter and a safe
place.
Since the beginning of this crisis, the United States has worked with our partners in this
room and across the region to provide over $4.5 billion in humanitarian assistance to
help address dire conditions, expand access to education, and strengthen the resilience
of host communities in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan that have so generously opened their
doors to those in need.
We are incredibly grateful to our friends and partners in Turkey for the leadership
and compassion that they have shown in hosting more than 2 million refugees from Syria and
thousands of others from around the world.
An example to nations, Turkey has committed itself to providing formal education for children
and enshrining this as a right in its laws on the temporary protection of Syrians.
Recognizing that the task of finding classroom spaces for hundreds of thousands of children
is enormous, Turkey is looking to us here today and the organizations that you represent
to help bridge this gap.
This is, I have to say, a little bit of an unusual event for us.
In most cases, we host discussions or conferences where we ask our participants simply to listen
instead of problem-solve.
But not today.
Today we are honored to hear from distinguished speakers who have traveled great distances
to help set the stage for this morning’s conversation.
We’ll hear lightning talks from two experts who will speak with specificity to the details
of the challenges that we must address, and then we’ll break into a reception for an
informal discussion on the ideas and partnerships we have in mind.
To begin this morning, I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Ali Ozturk, advisor to the deputy prime
minister with responsibility for managing the Syrian crisis response; Dr. Anthony Lake,
the executive director of UNICEF; and Meighan Stone, president of the Malala Fund.
Dr. Ozturk, the floor is yours.
Thank you.
(Applause.)