Minister outlines plan for Syrian refugees’ return
ANKARA
Defense Minister Yaşar Güler has unveiled a two-phase plan to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees, with efforts already underway to ensure the process is safe and voluntary.
"In the first stage, the return of Syrians staying in camps around Idlib will be organized, then work will be carried out for the return of Syrians living in Türkiye," Güler told MPs during a plenary session on Dec. 20.
Progress has been made in the "safe and voluntary" return of Syrian refugees living in Türkiye, the minister said.
Güler also detailed measures aimed at ensuring stability in northern Syria.
"Türkiye is taking various military and diplomatic steps to ensure stability in safe zones in the north of the geography," he noted, adding that these actions align with international law and self-defense principles.
The U.N. migration agency estimates that around 100,000 refugees have returned to Syria from neighboring countries since opposition forces toppled President Bashar al-Assad’s regime earlier this month.
"We are also seeing about 85,000 people come out" into Lebanon through established border crossing points, Amy Pope, the director-general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said on Dec. 18.
"It’s a rough figure: There’s certainly people who cross informally and so they’re not counted."
The agency expects nearly 1 million people to return to Syria between January and June 2025.
Hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees, Türkiye has recently expanded its border crossing capacities to accommodate the surge in those seeking to return home.
More than 7,600 Syrian migrants crossed the Turkish border to return home in the five days after the fall of the regime, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Dec. 15.
With the country gradually embracing normalcy, the first commercial flight since the ouster of Assad took off from Damascus airport on Dec. 18, offering Syrians a glimmer of hope after years of war and decades of oppression.
