Millions of Syrians must be able to return home safely: Turkish FM

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said more than half of all Syrians live outside their country and that they “must be able to return to their homeland safely,” in an interview with the UAE-based Sky News Arabia on Wednesday.

“More than half of the Syrian population is currently outside the country. These people must be able to return to their homeland safely,” Fidan said. He added that Turkey has engaged in multiple dialogues with Syria since 2017 to address various issues.

Syria’s civil war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more since it erupted in 2011 after Damascus cracked down on anti-government protests.

More than a quarter of Syrians live in extreme poverty, the World Bank said in May, 13 years into a devastating civil war that has battered the economy and impoverished millions.

Turkey hosts the highest number of Syrian refugees worldwide, with 3.6 million of them facing challenging and often precarious circumstances in the country, where anti-refugee rhetoric is running high.

Human Rights Watch reported in March that Turkish authorities are increasingly trying to deport Syrians, often forcing them to sign “voluntary” repatriation papers. In these deportations, refugees are usually sent to remote and unsafe regions in northern Syria, such as Tel Abyad, where they face serious humanitarian problems.

Many Syrians in Turkey live under the constant threat of deportation, exacerbating their vulnerability and limiting their access to stable employment and healthcare.

Turkey is party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the 1951 Refugee Convention. As such, and as a matter of customary international law, it is obliged to respect the principle of non-refoulement, which forbids returning anyone to a location where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture or other cruel treatment, or a threat to their life. Turkish Law 6458 on Foreigners and International Protection (LFIP), enacted in April 2013, offers Syrians “temporary protection in Turkey, ensures their non-refoulement, and guarantees their stay until safety is established in their original countries.”