Turkey is ready "if necessary" to let in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees gathered on its border after fleeing the military battles, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Turkey is ready "if necessary" to let in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees gathered on its border after fleeing the military battles, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Thousands of Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled toward the Turkish border since Friday from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo to escape the military battles in the area.

The Syrian army has now blocked a part of Aleppo, and Turkey is under threat, Erdogan told reporters on his plane returning from Senegal on Saturday.

The governor of Turkey's Kilis border province, Suleyman Tapsiz, said Saturday that Turkey -- already home to 2-2.5 million Syrians -- was taking care of 30-35,000 refugees who had gathered around the nearby Syrian city of Azaz in the space of 48 hours.