More than 25,000 Syrians have returned to their homeland from Turkey following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad by rebel forces led by Islamists, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday.
Turkey is home to nearly 3 million refugees who fled the civil war that broke out in 2011, and their presence has been a challenge for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government. “The number of people who have returned to Syria in the last 15 days has exceeded 25,000,” Yerlikaya said.
Ankara is in close contact with Syria’s new leadership and is focusing on the voluntary return of Syrian refugees, hoping that the change of government in Damascus will allow many of them to return home.
Yerlikaya announced that a migration office would be established at Turkey’s embassy and consulate in Damascus and Aleppo to monitor the return of Syrians. Turkey reopened its embassy in Damascus almost a week after Assad was overthrown by forces supported by Ankara, and 12 years after diplomatic missions were closed at the beginning of Syria’s civil war.
According to Yerlikaya, one person from each family will have the right to enter and exit Syria up to three times between January 1 and July 2025, under new rules to be implemented by Erdoğan’s directive.
Returning Syrians will be allowed to take their belongings and cars with them, he added.
