As many as 47,000 Syrians have left Turkey to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha with their relatives in Syria.
Some of the Syrians returned home through the border gate in the southern Turkish province of Hatay, an Anadolu news agency correspondent said on Monday, while others departed from Kilis in the Southeast.
They first made appointments on the Internet, then left Turkey after presenting their passports and other official documents at the border gate.
They will start returning to Turkey on Aug. 27.
This year’s Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha starts on Aug. 21 and will continue for four days.
More than 35,000 Syrians have reportedly left Turkey since early August via the Öncüpınar border gate in the southeastern province of Kilis.
Qasim al-Qasim, an official on the Syrian side of the border gate, told Anadolu on Saturday that 35,840 Syrians went back home to celebrate Eid.
Al-Qasim noted that peace has returned in the region after Turkey’s counterterrorism operations in northwestern Syria.