Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has stated that the monthly average of Syrian refugees voluntarily returning home doubled in a single day following the announcement of the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday.
A large number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has begun to go to the border gates to return home following the announcement of the overthrow of the Assad regime by an alliance of Syrian rebel groups on December 8.
“In 2024 an average of approximately 11,000 voluntary, safe and dignified returns occurred monthly. Today, there has been a surge in activity, with this figure rising by one and a half to two times by noon,” Yerlikaya told reporters on Tuesday following a cabinet meeting when asked about the number of Syrians returning to their homeland following Assad’s ouster.
The minister added that 3,000 voluntary returns were initially processed at the border but that the number has now increased to 15,000-20,000 due to a surge in crossings.
“After 13 years, we see that Syrians have dreams of returning to their country,” Yerlikaya said, referring to around 3 million Syrians who have taken refuge in Turkey since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011.
According to Yerlikaya, 2.93 million Syrians remain under temporary protection in Turkey.
Turkey has hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees worldwide since the outbreak of the war in Syria, with as many as 3.6 million of them facing challenging and often precarious circumstances in the country, where anti-refugee rhetoric has recently been running high.
Syrian refugees in Turkey have frequently been targeted by Turkish politicians, who held them responsible for social and economic problems in the country. The anti-Syrian rhetoric has gained momentum over time, especially during the May 2023 presidential election.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government have drawn widespread criticism from the opposition for pursuing an open-door policy for refugees and providing them with benefits.
Opposition municipalities offer services to facilitate returns
Meanwhile, municipalities run by Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) have launched campaigns aimed at facilitating the return of Syrian refugees after the fall of Assad’s regime. They promise to cover the transportation and relocation costs of the Syrians returning home.
In Ankara’s Keçiören district, Mayor Mesut Özarslan posted a message on X offering to cover transportation expenses to assist Syrian refugees in returning to their homeland, referring to them as “Syrian brothers.”
Özarslan also shared an image showing a transport vehicle and staff, accompanied by the message, “Everyone is happy in their homeland.”
Kilis Mayor Hakan Bilecen, also a CHP member, posted a video showing a municipal cleaning vehicle operating near the Öncüpınar border gate with Syria, saying, “We … would like to say that we are ready to provide every service necessary to bid farewell to our esteemed guests under better conditions on the Turkish side of the Öncüpınar border gate.”
Suriye’de Esed rejiminin sona erdiği haberini aldık, Suriyeli kardeşlerimizin sevinç gösterilerini de büyük bir heyecanla izledik! Bu coşkuya kayıtsız kalamadık ve Öncüpınar Sınır Kapısı’nın Türkiye tarafında siz değerli misafirlerimizi daha iyi koşullarda uğurlamak için her… pic.twitter.com/SGqiGiNsoL
— Av. Hakan Bilecen (@avhakanbilecenn) December 8, 2024
In recent years refugees and minorities have become the groups most targeted by negative political rhetoric and hate speech. In such an environment, Syrians have been at the center of anti-refugee sentiment, expressed in particular on social media and often by political parties. With inflation soaring in recent years, they have been blamed for many of Turkey’s social and economic ills.
While accusations increased as the country’s economy deteriorated, anti-Syrian sentiment among the Turkish public reached a tipping point following massive earthquakes in southern Turkey in February 2023 that wreaked widespread devastation. More alarmingly, anti-refugee and anti-Syrian rhetoric has been picked up by opposition politicians who have resorted to racist and xenophobic speech, thinking they are criticizing the government.
In 2023 Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the soft-spoken former main opposition leader and presidential candidate, made the return of refugees a central point of his presidential campaign.