UN refugee agency’s top award

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel received the U.N. refugee agency’s top award on Monday and gave credit to the people behind the welcome of more than 1 million refugees, mostly from Syria, after she opened Germany’s doors to them in 2015 and 2016.

Merkel said she would donate the $150,000 prize for the UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award to four other regional laureates who were also recognized at a Geneva ceremony.

Merkel, who has not made many public appearances since leaving office in December, praised others for the welcome that she oversaw at a time when many Syrians were fleeing entrenched conflict at home - a conflict that continues today.

“From my point of view, this honor I am receiving here today goes above all to the countless people who pitched in then, and whom we have to thank for the fact that we coped with the situation,” she said. She also praised Turkiye, Syria’s northern neighbor, for taking in 3.8 million refugees, and pointed to the huge numbers of Syrian refugees taken in by Lebanon and Jordan relative to their populations.