Erdogan Confirms Plan for Voluntary Return of 1 Million Syrian Refugees

A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)
A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)
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Erdogan Confirms Plan for Voluntary Return of 1 Million Syrian Refugees

A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)
A crossing at the Syrian-Turkish borders. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Türkiye is planning to ensure the return of about one million Syrian refugees back to their home country.

The return of refugees to their homeland will continue as security and stability continue to be restored in Syria, he added. “So far, more than 600,000 displaced people have returned to the country, and we plan to ensure the return of one million refugees,” Erdogan told a graduation ceremony in Ankara.

He warned that the return of refugees would take more time if terrorist attacks in Syria and Iraq continue.

"We are constructing around 500,000 houses in northern Syria, and the decent and voluntary return will increase as stability is established."

Erdogan revealed that nearly 600,000 refugees have returned to regions cleared of terrorism in northern Syria.

The president underlined a plan to send back 240,000 families, roughly one million Syrians, through a housing project that Türkiye had kicked off two months ago.

Moreover, he criticized the opposition’s approach to the refugee issue, arguing that the fight against terrorism is key to resolving the crisis.

Erdogan added that Türkiye is purging areas in the east and southeast from terrorists and it has defeated the “terrorist” Kurdistan Workers' Party not only in Türkiye, but in Iraq and Syria as well.

Meanwhile, Türkiye has stepped up efforts against illegal migration in major cities, especially Istanbul. In two months, 36,000 illegal migrants were arrested and 16,000 were deported, added Erdogan.

Syrian civil organizations have expressed “serious concern over the recent decision by the Turkish government to forcibly return Syrian refugees to northwestern Syria.”

In a joint statement, Baytna, Free Syrian Lawyers Association, Lawyers & Doctors for Human Rights, Syrian Network for Human Rights, Syrian British Consortium, Syrian American Council, and The Day After warned that such a decision violates the principle of non-refoulement, which is enshrined in international law.

“According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 3,329,516 Syrian refugees are present in Türkiye as of July 13, 2023.”

The statement criticized blaming refugees “for economic and social challenges that have been escalating since before they even came to the country.”

“Governments and opposition parties commonly lay the blame for problems affecting their countries at refugees’ feet, making false statements and promises in elections, such as claiming that deporting hundreds of thousands of refugees would improve the economic situation. This was the case in Türkiye’s most recent general elections.”

The statement added that the fallout of these elections is still being felt, “most palpably in June and July, with the crackdown on Syrian refugees intensifying in many Turkish provinces, most notably Istanbul. During this period, hundreds of Syrian refugees have been detained and subsequently deported.”

“According to accounts from refugees who have been forcibly repatriated from Türkiye to Syria, the crackdown campaigns are targeting Syrian refugees who have failed to obtain official documents that legally justify their presence in Türkiye, as well as Syrian residents who failed to renew their residency or the holders of temporary-protection documents who are found in provinces other than those for which their temporary-protection document was issued.

Most of those detained for deportation were transported by the Turkish police to deportation centers affiliated with the country’s Department of Immigration found across Türkiye, which in turn arranged these individuals’ transportation to the Turkish-Syrian border crossings. These crackdowns have also involved many other violations such as beatings, insults, and not affording them the right to hire a defense attorney or to appeal their deportation rulings.

Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya refuted on Wednesday claims about the deportation of Syrian refugees who are holders of the “Kimlik” temporary protection card from Türkiye.



Many in Gaza are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads amid Aid Issues

An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
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Many in Gaza are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads amid Aid Issues

An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)

Yasmin Eid coughs and covers her face, cooking a small pot of lentils over a fire fed with twigs and scrap paper in the tent she shares with her husband and four young daughters in the Gaza Strip.
It was their only meal Wednesday — it was all they could afford.
“My girls suck on their thumbs because of how hungry they are, and I pat their backs until they sleep,” she said.
After being displaced five times, the Eids reside in central Gaza, where aid groups have relatively more access than in the north, which has been largely isolated and heavily destroyed since Israel began waging a renewed offensive against the militant group Hamas in early October. But nearly everyone in Gaza is going hungry these days. In the north experts say a full-blown famine may be underway, The Associated Press said.
On Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, accusing them of using “starvation as a method of warfare” — charges Israel adamantly denies.
In Deir al-Balah, the Eids are among hundreds of thousands sheltering in squalid tent camps. The local bakeries shut down for five days this week. The price of a bag of bread climbed above $13 by Wednesday, as bread and flour vanished from shelves before more supplies arrived.
The United Nations humanitarian office warned of a “stark increase” in the number of households experiencing severe hunger in central and southern Gaza. It appeared to be linked to the robbery at gunpoint of nearly 100 aid trucks last weekend in southern Gaza, close to Israeli military positions. Israel blamed Hamas but appears to have taken no action to stop the looting, while Hamas said it was the work of local bandits.
Aid groups say the looting is one of many obstacles to getting food and other vital aid to the territory's 2.3 million Palestinians. They also have to contend with Israeli movement restrictions, ongoing fighting, and heavy damage wreaked by the Israeli bombardment of roads and critical infrastructure.
For the Eids, hunger is the daily routine For months, Yasmin and her family have gone to bed hungry.
“Everything has increased in price, and we cannot buy anything," she said. “We always go to sleep without having dinner.”
She misses coffee, but a single packet of Nescafe goes for around $1.30. A kilogram (2 pounds) of onions goes for $10, a medium bottle of cooking oil for $15 — if available. Meat and chicken all but vanished from the markets months ago, but there are still some local vegetables. Such sums are astronomical in an impoverished territory where few people earn regular incomes.
Crowds of hundreds wait hours to get food from charities, which are also struggling.
Hani Almadhoun, co-founder of the Gaza Soup Kitchen, said his teams can offer only small bowls of rice or pasta once a day. He said they “can go to the market on one day and buy something for $5, and then go back in the afternoon to find it doubled or tripled in price.”
Its kitchen in the central town of Zuweida operated on a daily budget of around $500 for much of the war. When the amount of aid entering Gaza plummeted in October, its costs climbed to around $1,300 a day. It can feed about half of the 1,000 families who line up each day.
The sharp decline in aid, and a US ultimatum Israel says it places no limits on the amount of aid entering Gaza and has announced a number of measures it says are aimed at increasing the flow in recent weeks, including the opening of a new crossing. It blames UN agencies for not retrieving it, pointing to hundreds of truckloads languishing on the Gaza side of the border.
But the military's own figures show that the amount of aid entering Gaza plunged to around 1,800 trucks in October, down from over 4,200 the previous month. At the current rate of entry, around 2,400 trucks would come into Gaza in November. Around 500 trucks entered each day before the war.
The UN says less than half the truckloads are actually distributed because of ongoing fighting, Israeli denial of movement requests, and the breakdown of law and order. Hamas-run police have vanished from many areas after being targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
The war started Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are dead, and Hamas militants have repeatedly regrouped after Israeli operations, carrying out hit-and-run attacks from tunnels and bombed-out buildings.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 44,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many of the dead were fighters.
The United States warned Israel in October that it might be forced to curtail some of its crucial military support if Israel did not rapidly ramp up the amount of aid entering Gaza. But after the 30-day ultimatum expired, the Biden administration declined to take any action, saying there had been some progress.
Israel meanwhile passed legislation severing ties with UNRWA. Israel accuses the agency of allowing itself to be infiltrated by Hamas — allegations denied by the UN.
Israeli news outlets have reported that officials are considering plans for the military to take over aid distribution or contract it out to private security companies. Asked about such plans Wednesday, government spokesman David Mercer said “Israel is looking at many creative solutions to ensure a better future for Gaza.”
Yoav Gallant, the former defense minister who was seen as a voice of moderation in the far-right government before being fired this month, warned on X that handing over aid distribution to a private firm was a “euphemism for the beginning of military rule.”
As that debate plays out in Jerusalem, less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away from central Gaza, most Palestinians in the territory are focused on staying alive in a war with no end in sight.
“I find it difficult to talk about the suffering we are experiencing. I am ashamed to talk about it,” said Yasmin’s husband, Hani. “What can I tell you? I’m a person who has 21 family members and is unable to provide them with a bag of flour.”