"The number of Syrians has passed 130,000," he told reporters in Ankara, warning that the number would likely rise. IS extremists have seized dozens of villages in the past week as they advance on the town of Ain al-Arab, called Kobane in Kurdish, near the border.
"If ISIL attacks continue in the Kobane region, Turkey may face an intensive influx," Kurtulmus said, using one of a handful of alternative names for the IS group.
"We have taken all necessary measures in case of a continued influx of displaced people. We don't want that, of course, but we are ready," he added.
The latest total was a sharp increase from a figure of 104,000 given earlier on Monday by Turkey's emergencies directorate.The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, on Saturday said that as many as hundreds of thousands of refugees might flee.
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