Large-scale Refugee Returns Could Overwhelm Syria, UN Migration Agency Chief Warns

Residents stand in line to buy bread from a bakery in Aleppo, Syria. (File/AP)
Residents stand in line to buy bread from a bakery in Aleppo, Syria. (File/AP)
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Large-scale Refugee Returns Could Overwhelm Syria, UN Migration Agency Chief Warns

Residents stand in line to buy bread from a bakery in Aleppo, Syria. (File/AP)
Residents stand in line to buy bread from a bakery in Aleppo, Syria. (File/AP)

Large-scale returns of refugees to Syria could overwhelm the country and even stoke conflict at a fragile moment following the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, the head of the UN migration agency told reporters on Friday.
"We believe that millions of people returning would create conflict within an already fragile society," said Amy Pope, director-general of the International Organization for Migration, told a Geneva press briefing after a trip to the country. "We are not promoting large scale returns. The communities, frankly, are just not ready to absorb the people who are displaced."



Türkiye Tells Germany Kurdish Militant Groups Must Lay Down Arms

20 December 2024, Türkiye, Ankara: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shakes hands with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan ahead of their meeting in Ankara. (dpa)
20 December 2024, Türkiye, Ankara: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shakes hands with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan ahead of their meeting in Ankara. (dpa)
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Türkiye Tells Germany Kurdish Militant Groups Must Lay Down Arms

20 December 2024, Türkiye, Ankara: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shakes hands with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan ahead of their meeting in Ankara. (dpa)
20 December 2024, Türkiye, Ankara: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shakes hands with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan ahead of their meeting in Ankara. (dpa)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Friday that it is essential for Kurdish militant groups including the PKK and YPG to lay down arms and dissolve, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said.

Ankara considers the YPG, which has fought for years in Syria alongside US troops, to be an extension of the PKK, which fights against the Turkish state and is banned as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the EU and United States.

Turkish forces and their Syrian allies have clashed with a YPG-led alliance in Syria since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this month.