No Syrian inflow towards Türkiye after quakes: Akar
ANKARA
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has denied reports about a fresh refugee inflow from Syria in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes that hit both Türkiye and Syria.
“Some intriguers claimed there is a refugee inflow through the borders. This is completely false. There is no entry from the border gates or the borders,” Akar said during his inspections in Hatay, one of the severely earthquake-hit provinces bordering Syria, over the weekend. Akar and Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler visited some villages on the border and met local people.
Informing that he was briefed by the border guards who denied any legal or illegal attempt by the Syrians to cross the border into Türkiye, Akar said, “On the contrary, they have told me that some Syrians who lost their families and houses in Syria have voluntarily returned to their country. Some 10,633 Syrians voluntarily returned home after the earthquake.”
There were speculative reports on social media about fresh inflow of Syrians into Türkiye in mass numbers. Akar repeated that these were all fake.
Two devastating earthquakes of 7.7 and 7.6 magnitudes, on Feb. 6 severely hit Türkiye’s southern provinces and Syria’s northern provinces. Türkiye is currently hosting around 3.7 million Syrians with a significant portion of them residing in the earthquake-hit region.
The death toll in Türkiye exceeded 40,000 while around 5,000 Syrians lost their lives in their country.
