 of inciting anti-Syrian sentiment, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.){kind=link}
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has expressed the belief that the number of voluntary returns from Turkey to Syria will increase over time in the wake of the ouster of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, while he accused the former leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) of inciting anti-Syrian sentiment, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
A large number of Syrian refugees in Turkey have begun to go to the border gates to return home following the announcement of the overthrow of Assad by an alliance of Syrian rebel groups on December 8.
Erdoğan commented about the recent developments in Syria during a speech at a Human Rights Day event in Ankara on Wednesday, marking the annual observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948.
He said the fall of the Assad regime would open the path to peace and security in Syria and suggested that as peace becomes more established, the number of Syrians returning voluntarily to their homeland would gradually increase.
Following Assad’s ouster, hundreds flocked to Turkey’s southern border with Syria, with Ankara quickly moving to expand its crossing facilities as announced by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on Tuesday.
Turkey shares a 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria with five operational crossings.
On Monday Erdoğan pledged to reopen a sixth crossing on the western end of the frontier that has been closed since 2013 to “ease the traffic.”
The president defended his government’s controversial refugee policy while criticizing the opposition for fuelling the anti-refugee sentiment in the country.
Erdoğan and his government have attracted widespread criticism from the opposition for pursuing an open-door policy for refugees and providing them with benefits. 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.
He said Turkey, which has hosted around 3 million refugees since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011, has “successfully passed the test of humanity” in providing refuge to the war-hit Syrians.
He accused Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of unjustly attacking Syrians, who were “forced to leave their homeland overnight,” by attempting to incite anti-Syrian sentiment through hateful rhetoric.
Syrian refugees in Turkey have frequently been targeted by Turkish politicians, who hold 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.
In 2023 Kılıçdaroğlu, the soft-spoken former main opposition leader and presidential candidate, made the return of refugees a central point of his presidential campaign.
Meanwhile, responding to reporters’ questions about offers from some opposition-run municipalities to cover Syrians’ return expenses, Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş of the CHP said that while there had not been a significant rise in departures, they would support and assist those who wish to leave.
“The demographics of our country are under threat. … Now that Assad’s oppression no longer exists, there is no longer any obstacle for them to leave,” the mayor added.