Return to Syria? Pressure on refugees in Türkiye is growing

Upheaval in Syria

Return to Syria? Pressure on refugees in Türkiye is growing

The fall of Assad has also fueled calls in Turkey for the rapid return of the millions of Syrians in the country. The big return has not yet occurred. Experts warn against propaganda.

Since the coup in Syria, moving contractor Salah Muhammad’s phone has been ringing non-stop. The 33-year-old has been advertising a moving service from Turkey to Syria on Facebook for a few days now – and demand is high. He receives more than a hundred inquiries per day. The end of the decades-long rule of the Assad family and the associated hope of being able to return to their homeland are also encouraging many of the approximately three million Syrians registered as refugees in Turkey to want to leave their lives here behind them.

Muhammad Dahman can hardly wait to leave Turkey. The father of a family traveled fully loaded with his wife and four children from Istanbul to the border with Syria. At the Öncüpinar crossing in the southern Turkish province of Kilis, the deserted soldier says that nothing keeps him in Turkey. He wants to go back to his country and rebuild it. When he leaves the country he forfeits his right of residence and cannot return to Turkey for the time being, but that doesn’t matter to him.

A local official said about 700 people crossed the border here on Monday, the first day after Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow, after which the number decreased. Media reports about 1,000 people at other border posts every day. Turkey hosts more refugees than any other country. The mood in society has been changing for a long time. Syrians face severe hostility, and an overwhelming majority of Turks were demanding that they leave the country even before Assad’s fall. There have already been several riots in which Syrians’ facilities, homes and cars have been attacked.

Politicians from the government and opposition are now once again taking advantage of the anti-refugee sentiment in the country following the change of power in Syria. The mayor of the municipality of Keciören, for example, posted the request on Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said they wanted to increase capacity at border crossings so that up to 20,000 Syrians could be processed every day. But it is questionable whether so many actually want to leave the country.

Migration researcher Murat Erdogan considers the statements to be dangerous. The illusion is being created that all Syrians will now leave the country. “Realistically, the majority will remain in Turkey,” says Erdogan. With the fall of Assad, his brutal rule in Syria has come to an end. However, the poor economic situation and insecurity in Syria continued. In addition, many lost everything in Syria and have now built a new life in Turkey.

Mena El Suleyman is one of those who does not want to return. The 38-year-old came to Turkey when she was 24 and now lives in Kilis. According to the government, around 40 percent Syrians live in the community. She could walk to the Öncüpinar border crossing, but she wants to stay. The woman from Aleppo works in a textile factory and is “very happy” in Turkey. She is afraid of the situation in Syria. According to the UN, the humanitarian situation in Syria remains unstable.

Said Ozo still wants to return to his homeland of Tal Rifat, which he left in 2016, as quickly as possible. At the beginning of December, rebels supported by Turkey conquered the town in northern Syria that had previously been controlled by Kurdish militias. In his workshop, the 51-year-old is sewing a carpet for a Turkish customer. He fears a future without Syrians in Kilis: “They work in crafts everywhere, have fruit and vegetable shops. We live together here. If they leave, half of Kilis will be empty.”