Türkiye is opening its Yayladagi border gate with Syria to manage the safe and voluntary return of the millions of Syrian migrants it hosts, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, adding Ankara was ready to support the country's rebuilding in any way it can.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan added that Türkiye would not allow new terrorist elements to emerge on its borders.
Earlier on Monday, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Türkiye will work for the safe and voluntary return home of the Syrian migrants it hosts and will help in the reconstruction of Syria after President Bashar al-Assad's sudden ouster by the opposition.
In one of the biggest turning points for the Middle East in generations, opposition fighters seized the Syrian capital Damascus and Assad fled to Russia, following 13 years of civil war and more than 50 years of his family's brutal rule.
Türkiye, which said it gave no support and had no involvement in the offensive by the Syrian opposition forces it has backed for years against Assad, said on Sunday it wanted the new Syrian administration to be inclusive and for Syrians to determine their own future.
In an address to the Turkish Ambassadors' Conference in Ankara, Fidan said Türkiye was ready to provide support for Syria's rebuilding and that it was coordinating with all "regional actors and parties".
"In the coming period, we want a Syria where different ethnic and religious groups live in an inclusive understanding of governance and in peace. We want to see a new Syria that has ties with its neighbors, that adds peace and stability to its region," he said.
"We will continue our work to ensure the safe and voluntary return of Syrians and for the country's reconstruction," Fidan said.
He added that Ankara would stand with Syrians in this "new phase" in Damascus but groups like ISIS and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that Ankara regards as terrorist organizations must not benefit from the situation.
NATO member Türkiye hosts some 3 million Syrian migrants and refugees, making it the biggest host of Syrians who have fled the civil war. It also controls swathes of land in northern Syria after several cross-border incursions against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara sees as an extension of the PKK.
Shares in Turkish construction and cement companies surged on Monday, buoyed by expectations that they will benefit from rebuilding in Syria.
