Angelina Jolie visits Syrian refugees in Turkey

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, center left, in her role as special envoy for the U. N. refugee agency, and UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres, center right, at the Oncupinar Syrian refugee camp in Kilis, Turkey, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. Jolie met with Syrian refugees in Turkey, after visiting Syrian refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. There are more than 80,000 Syrian refugees in 11 camps in Turkey. (AP Photo/Dilek Mermer, Pool)

ISTANBUL (AP) — Hollywood star Angelina Jolie met with Syrian refugees in Turkey on Thursday to draw attention to the plight of the hundreds of thousands who have fled their nation’s civil war.

The trip by Jolie, who is a special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency, comes as Turkey grows increasingly concerned that the number of registered Syrian refugees on its soil — about 80,000 — is becoming difficult to manage.

Turkey has also been frustrated in attempts to persuade the international community to help set up safe havens for Syrian civilians inside Syria.

Jolie and Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, met privately with refugees at two camps near the Syrian border. Jolie’s two-day itinerary in Turkey was also to include a stop in Ankara, the capital, for talks with officials including President Abdullah Gul.

Jolie said the refugees had told her they were grateful to Turkey for its help. “And they are very, very emotional and very deeply saddened by the situation in Syria and very concerned about their families and their friends in their country,” the actress said.

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