The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria continues to create hope among the many Syrians who have fled the country and the civil war. Tens of thousands are returning with the hope that a new era of peace, tolerance and prosperity can begin. Over 25 thousand Syrian refugees in Türkiye have returned to Syria in the last two weeks alone. The Turkish Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, in an interview with Anadolu recalled that there are still 2,920,119 Syrians living in the Anatolian peninsula under the temporary protection regime.
Türkiye’s plan
Ankara is in close contact with the new Syrian leaders and is focusing on the voluntary return of refugees. To this end, Yerlikaya said a migration office will be established at the Turkish embassy and consulate in Damascus and Aleppo so that returnees can be tracked. Turkey has reopened its embassy in Damascus, nearly a week after Assad was toppled by Ankara-backed forces and 12 years after the diplomatic outpost closed at the start of the Syrian civil war.
Yerlikaya explained that one member from each family will have the right to enter and exit Syria up to three times between January 1 and July 2025, so as to assess the situation and prepare a definitive repatriation, in accordance with a regulation that will be drawn up on the recommendation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Returning Syrians will be able to bring their belongings and vehicles with them, the minister added.
Regime overthrown
On November 27, the Syrian armed opposition led by Abu Mohammed al-Golani launched a large-scale offensive against government forces in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. On the evening of December 7, President Assad’s opponents captured several strategic cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Daraa and Homs.
On December 8, they entered Damascus, forcing the army to withdraw from the capital. Assad resigned and left the country. Since then, European states, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, have decided to suspend asylum requests from Syrian citizens, while Austria has announced that it is preparing to expel around 100,000 refugees from the country.
The counter-exodus
Around 1.3 million Syrian refugees live in Europe, while another 4.8 million reside in neighboring countries. Many of them chose to return spontaneously and, according to forecasts, others will follow. According to the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM), as of December 17, around 100,000 refugees had already returned to Syria from neighboring countries, but these are rough estimates, as some may have returned without registering.
The UN refugee agency predicts that nearly 1 million people will return to Syria between January and June 2025. However, this counter-exodus could pose a challenge for the country. “We believe that the return of millions of people would create conflict within an already fragile society,” warned Amy Pope, director general of the IOM, during a press briefing in Geneva after a trip to the country. “We are not promoting large-scale repatriations. Communities, frankly, are not ready to absorb displaced people.”
