Türkiye Calls on Int’l Community to Contribute to Voluntary Return of Syrian Refugees

After winning the elections, the Turkish president reiterated his intention to work on the voluntarily return of the displaced Syrians to their country. (AP)
After winning the elections, the Turkish president reiterated his intention to work on the voluntarily return of the displaced Syrians to their country. (AP)
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Türkiye Calls on Int’l Community to Contribute to Voluntary Return of Syrian Refugees

After winning the elections, the Turkish president reiterated his intention to work on the voluntarily return of the displaced Syrians to their country. (AP)
After winning the elections, the Turkish president reiterated his intention to work on the voluntarily return of the displaced Syrians to their country. (AP)

Türkiye has called on the international community to cooperate in achieving the voluntary, safe and dignified return of Syrian refugees on its territory. At the same time, it confirmed that it would continue its operations targeting terrorist organizations at home and across borders.

The country’s National Security Council emphasized the importance of international cooperation in the issue of refugees, saying that it would contribute to achieving their voluntary, safe and dignified return to their homeland.

This came in a statement issued on Thursday evening, at the end of the first meeting of the newly-established council, after the recent presidential and parliamentary elections.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had confirmed, after the first meeting of his new government on Tuesday, that Türkiye would return the Syrian refugees to their country in a safe, voluntary and honorable manner, saying: “We will encourage our brothers, who sought refuge in our country fleeing the war and the attacks of terrorist organizations, to voluntarily return to their homeland safely and honorably.”

During his electoral campaign, Erdogan pledged to return more than a million Syrian refugees to safe areas established by Türkiye in northern Syria, where it is building residential villages with services to accommodate them in conditions suitable for life and work.

“We will contribute to peace and stability on a global scale by maintaining our pioneering foreign policy and active humanitarianism,” he stated.

Türkiye places the return of refugees among the three main goals of negotiations to normalize relations with Syria, which also include cooperation in combating terrorism and advancing the political process to achieve stability and preserve the country’s unity.

Meanwhile, Ankara announced the arrest of a female official in the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in a joint operation of its intelligence with the pro-Turkish Syrian National Army, while she was trying to infiltrate from Manbij into Turkish territory.

On Friday, the official Anadolu Agency quoted security sources as saying that members of the Syrian National Army had arrested an official of the People’s Protection Units in the city of Manbij, after obtaining information from Turkish intelligence about her movements. She was later handed over to the Turkish security authorities.



New Gaza Aid Plans Would Increase Children’s Suffering, UNICEF Says 

Palestinian boys salvage bread from a makeshift bakery hit in Israeli strikes at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 8, 2025. (AFP)
Palestinian boys salvage bread from a makeshift bakery hit in Israeli strikes at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 8, 2025. (AFP)
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New Gaza Aid Plans Would Increase Children’s Suffering, UNICEF Says 

Palestinian boys salvage bread from a makeshift bakery hit in Israeli strikes at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 8, 2025. (AFP)
Palestinian boys salvage bread from a makeshift bakery hit in Israeli strikes at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 8, 2025. (AFP)

The United Nations Children's Fund on Friday criticized emerging plans to take over distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza on Thursday floated by both Israel and the United States, saying that they would increase suffering for children and families.

The US State Department earlier floated a solution that would allow delivery of food aid to Gaza was "steps away" and an announcement was coming shortly.

A proposal is circulating among the aid community for a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that would distribute food from four "Secure Distribution Sites", resembling plans announced by Israel earlier this week, which drew criticism that it would effectively worsen displacement among the Gaza population.

"It appears the design of a plan presented by Israel to the humanitarian community will increase ongoing suffering of children and families in the Gaza Strip," said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.

Elder said his remarks also applied to the new foundation which he understood to be part of the same broad plan.

The aid community has already rejected any plans that would give occupying power Israel a role in distributing aid in Gaza.

However, the Foundation document said the sites would be "neutral" and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Friday that Israel would not be involved in handing out aid.

Still, Elder said that the use of such hubs, which the foundation says will initially serve 300,000 people each, would create risks for children and families as they go to retrieve aid and would drive further displacement.

"The use of humanitarian aid as a bait to force displacement, especially from the north to the south will create this impossible choice: a choice between displacement and death," said Elder, who has been on several missions to Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began 19 months ago.

"It appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic."

He called instead for Israel to lift a more than two-month-long blockade on aid entries into the enclave, which is stoking widespread hunger and raising concerns about a spike in malnutrition-related deaths.

"There is a simple alternative, lift the blockade, let humanitarian aid in to save lives," he said.