The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has announced that his country is looking to return at least a million Syrians back to their country, working with Syria and international organisations.
President Erdogan announced this week that his government would be working toward the goal of helping a million Syrians return to their home country, claiming the returns would be voluntary.
Turkey has emerged as the country with the largest number of Syrian asylum seekers since the start of the country’s civil war in 2011, housing around 3.7 million Syrian nationals, although around 500,000 have returned to Syria since 2016 according to a report from the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants.
Part of the plan revolves around a temporary housing project in Northwestern Syria in the province of Idlib, where thousands of prefabricated homes have been built to accommodate those wishing to return to the country.
President Erdogan made his announcement after unveiling the new homes saying, “We are preparing a project for the return of one million of our Syrian sisters and brothers to their home country.”
The ambitious plan would be the largest return of Syrians since the start of the war and comes as European countries have either been hesitant to return Syrian nationals to their home country due to the security situation or have struggled with deportations, with German only lifting a ban on deportations to Syria in 2021.
Denmark has been one of the few European countries that have expressed a desire to send a large number of Syrians back home, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen calling on Syrians from the Damascus region to head back home last year.
“If you’re a refugee, it’s because you have a need for protection. And if that need disappears because you are not individually persecuted or there are no general conditions that require protection, then, of course, you have to return to the country you come from,” Prime Minister Frederiksen said.