More than 175,000 Syrians who fled their country’s civil war to neighboring Turkey have returned home since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad in December, the Turkish interior ministry said Wednesday.
Nearly 2.8 million Syrian refugees are still in Turkey, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, adding that the 175,412 returns between December 9 and April 13 were all “voluntary.”
The Turkish government, which supports the Islamist-led rebels who toppled Assad, is hoping to accelerate the return of refugees to ease the tensions their presence has generated in parts of the country.
Overall, around 400,000 Syrians have returned from neighboring countries since Assad’s fall, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
The agency also says more than 1 million Syrians displaced within their country by the conflict had also returned to their homes.
© Agence France-Presse