More than 25,000 Syrians returned from Türkiye after the revolution

More than 25,000 Syrian nationals returned to their country between December 9 and 23, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday, a record number compared to the average of 11,000 monthly returns. That number skyrocketed after the Syrian revolution toppled Bashar Assad’s Baathist regime following years of civil war that displaced millions of people.

Turkey has welcomed more than 3 million Syrian refugees since the start of the war more than a decade ago and has pursued a policy of openness to people displaced from its southern neighbor. It now seeks to ensure the voluntary and safe return of refugees as the new administration takes over the country.

A large majority of Syrian refugees in Turkey are optimistic about Syria’s future after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, and a significant number are eager to return to their country, according to a recent survey. The survey conducted by Istanbul-based Areda among 1,100 Syrians across Turkey from December 9-11 showed that 91% of Syrians are satisfied with the end of the Assad regime and 71.5% are happy hope for the future of their country. The study showed that 45.5% of Syrians are ready to return home if the situation in Syria improves, while 26.7% are eager to return “as soon as possible.”

Yerlikaya said Turkey had more than 2.9 million Syrian nationals under temporary protection status granted to refugees and that southern towns near the Turkish-Syrian border hosted the majority of them. He said Kilis had the most Syrian nationals relative to its population and that refugees made up 29% of the province’s population. Yerlikaya told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Tuesday that the figure was only 3 percent in Istanbul, the country’s most populous city with a diverse migrant population. In terms of the proportion of refugees to the local population, Yerlikaya said Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, two border towns, followed Kilis with 409,000 and 244,000 refugees, respectively.

The minister said 61 percent of Syrians in Türkiye were from Aleppo, one of the first cities liberated from Ba’athist rule during the revolution. He added that some 875,000 children were born to Syrian families during their stay in Türkiye and more than 819,000 Syrian children attended Turkish schools.

Turkey has prioritized the safe, voluntary and dignified return of Syrians, a policy adopted long before the fall of the Assad regime. Yet in the past, refugees had fewer reasons to return and mainly headed to areas liberated from terrorist groups in northern Syria. Yerlikaya noted that more than 763,000 people have returned to Syria from Turkey since 2017.

Authorities have increased customs capacity at border crossings with Syria in the face of overwhelming demand. Refugees are first processed at the offices of migration authorities at the border before their departure. Yerlikaya said they asked each returnee if they had a residence they could stay in in Syria. He highlighted the dire situation in Syria, where the economy is in tatters. “Even so, people are very excited about returning to their home countries,” he said.

In the past, Turkey built briquette houses for displaced Syrians in the country’s relatively safer north. In this war-torn country, where many neighborhoods remain in ruins, finding a house in good condition is a challenge for many. Yerlikaya said around 110,000 families live in houses built by Turkish charities and sponsors. He said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked them during the Cabinet meeting on Monday to build more houses for returning Syrians and that they would cooperate with civil society organizations for the construction. He noted that the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) also coordinated efforts to deliver 316 trucks of flour to Syria in recent weeks, in addition to 571 trucks of aid sent by charities.

Returnees are screened before leaving, Yerlikaya explained, through a central system that checks their criminal records. “If they do not have a criminal record requiring arrest or incarceration, they are allowed to enter Syria from one of six border crossings,” he said. Syrian refugees must acquire a travel permit to travel from their city of residence to another city. Yerlikaya said they still had to present this permit to authorities to enter Syria. Each refugee must also sign a form approving their voluntary return to their country of origin. Officials from the United Nations and the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) are also interviewing returnees to check whether they are returning to their countries voluntarily, the minister said.

Yerlikaya said they were also inundated with requests from civil society organizations and businesspeople wanting to travel to Syria in the post-Assad era and planned to speed up the travel process. The minister said they would also establish migration management offices in Damascus and Aleppo within the Turkish embassy and consulate. He said these offices would help Syrian authorities access returnee files. “The new administration is still creating its Interior Ministry. We have records of displaced Syrians, but the administration does not have adequate records because terrorist groups and the old regime destroyed the records, from the civic register to the land register,” he said.

The minister said returning refugees would also be given limited rights to return to Türkiye. “One person from each household will be entitled to three return trips within six months to Turkey, starting January 1,” he said.