Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, announced on Saturday that more than 500,000 Syrians who had fled to his country have already returned since 2016.
About 526,000 (Syrians) have willingly returned to the security areas we built (in the north of the country) since the beginning of our cross-border operations in Syria (2016), he told the Turkish parliament.
Out of the 3. 7 million refugees legally registered in Turkey, the Turkish president recently declared that he was “preparing” for one million Syrian refugees to return on a voluntary basis.
Erdogan also wants to keep funding homes and infrastructure in northwest Syria, the final region still held by opposition groups and where Ankara has deployed its forces. He aims to do this with the assistance of the international community.
At a time when Turkey is experiencing a serious economic and monetary crisis and eight and a half months before the presidential elections, the question of hosting Syrian refugees has gained a lot of attention.
In the meantime, opposition groups keep calling on the government to send millions of Syrians home.
It is significant that the crisis in Syria, which began in March 2011, has resulted in millions of people being displaced and forced to flee their homes.
Erdogan: More than 500,000 refugees from Syria have returned to their nation.
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