Ankara, April 17 (IANS) A total of 175,512 Syrians have voluntarily returned to their country from Turkey since December 9 last year, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
According to Yerlikaya on Wednesday, the number of Syrians who have returned from Turkey since 2017 has now reached 915,515.
These returns, comprising 33,730 families, have been carried out in what authorities describe as a “voluntary, safe, dignified, and orderly” manner, Xinhua news agency reported.
Yerlikaya stressed that the return process is managed transparently, with oversight from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
To facilitate the process, Turkey has introduced measures allowing authorized exit and re-entry and has deployed migration representatives in Syria to monitor and support returnees on the ground.
Millions of Syrians fled their country following the outbreak of civil war in 2011.
Turkey, sharing a long border with Syria, became a major refuge, hosting more than 3.6 million Syrians at the peak of the crisis, according to UN figures.
The Turkish government, which supports the Islamist-led rebels who toppled the government of former President Bashar al-Assad, is hoping to accelerate the return of refugees to ease the tensions their presence has generated in parts of the country.
Overall, around 400,000 Syrians have returned from neighbouring countries since Assad’s fall, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
The agency also said that more than one million Syrians displaced within their country by the conflict had also returned to their homes.
The dramatic shift in Syria’s political landscape began on December 8, 2024, when Bashar al-Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime forces seized control of Damascus, effectively ending Baath Party rule that had lasted since 1963.
On January 29, a transitional Syrian administration was announced under the leadership of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the commander of the opposition forces that ousted Assad.
The new administration dissolved Syria’s constitution, security services, armed factions, the Baath Party, and Parliament — setting the stage for a new political structure.
–IANS
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