Erdogan says more than half a million Syrian refugees returned home
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late on Saturday that since the first cross-border operations in Syria in 2016 nearly 526.000 Syrian refugees returned home “voluntarily” to areas he described as safe in northern Syria.
This came as Turkey announced its intention to return a million Syrian refugees to settlements it has built in northern Syria for months ago.
In a speech to the Turkish parliament, Erdogan said, “Since the start of our cross-border operations in Syria (in 2016), about 526,000 volunteers have returned to the safety zones that we established.”
Turkish authorities, in cooperation with Qatari and Kuwaiti foundations, have built settlements to settle Syrian refugees living on Turkish soil in northern Syria (predominantly Kurdish areas) which is under the control of Turkish forces and affiliated armed opposition factions, known as Syrian National Army (SNA), engineering a demographic change which has already been taking place in the region.
The Turkish President added that his country encourages Syrian refugees to return to “safe zones” on the Turkey-Syria border by building settlements and infrastructure.
Turkey launched three military operations against northern and northeastern regions of Syria. The first was “Euphrates Shield” operation in 2016 where it occupied Jarablus and al-Bab, the second was “Olive Branch” operation in 2018 where it occupied Afrin region, and the third was “Peace Spring” in 2019 which resulted in the occupation of the two cities of Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad with their countryside.
Turkish authorities claim there are 3.7 million Syrian refugees officially living in Turkey. This is going to have its impacts on the presidential elections to be held in the country in 2023.