Turkey braces for surge of Syrian refugees heading home

Turkey has expanded its border crossing capacities to accommodate the surge in Syrian refugees seeking to return home following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the interior minister has said.

Following Assad's ouster on Sunday, hundreds flocked to Turkey's southern border with Syria, with Ankara quickly moving to expand its crossing facilities, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told reporters in remarks published on Tuesday.

"Although we had a daily capacity to accommodate 3,000 crossings, we have increased that to between 15,000 and 20,000," Yerlikaya said.

Ala Jabeer, a Syrian migrant who arrived in Turkey in December 2011, and his ten-year-old daughter Sirin are pictured at the Yayladagi border gate as they wait for to cross into Syria, after Syrian rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad, in Hatay province, Turkey, December 10, 2024. Reuters

Turkey is home to nearly three million refugees who fled after the start of the civil war in 2011, with Ankara hoping the tectonic shift in neighboring Syria will allow many to return home.

Yerlikaya said "300-400" people crossed the frontier on Sunday but by midday on Monday, that number had "doubled".

"We will have a meeting with Syrian NGOs on Wednesday afternoon" about the refugees' return, he said, without specifying which groups would be involved.

Yerlikaya said since 2016, "more than 738,000 Syrians" had voluntarily returned home, with a total of 2,935,000 still left in Turkey.

Syrian migrants wait at the Cilvegozu border gate to cross into Syria, after Syrian rebels announced that they have ousted Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in the Turkish town of Reyhanli in Hatay province, Turkey, December 10, 2024.Reuters

Turkey shares a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border with Syria.

Although only a handful of crossings are open, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday pledged to reopen another one on the western end of the frontier that has been closed since 2013 to "ease the traffic".

The Yayladagi border post in Hatay province lies at Turkey's southernmost point, giving entry to the western Syrian coastal region of Latakia.

"The strong wind of change in Syria will be beneficial for all Syrians, especially the refugees. As Syria gains stability, voluntary returns will increase and their 13-year longing for their homeland will come to an end," Erdogan said.