Interior Ministry: Over 500,000 Syrians have voluntarily returned to their country

Photo: Anadolu Agency

"According to the latest data, 503,150 Syrians returned to their country voluntarily," announced Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu today (Jun 1) at an event on Turkey's projects to build houses in Syria's Idlib.

Soylu attended the meeting that was held within the scope of the "We are together, we stand by Idlib" campaign in Ankara.

"Today, we continue with the same determination on our policy of creating a safe zone in Idlib and northern Syria, cleaning the region from terrorism, and preventing the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) from changing the demographics here. The normalization of life in this region is essential for both our security and also for the ending of this humanitarian drama."

"59 thousand 679 briquette houses have been completed"

"The house projects continue at 259 different locations in northern Syria," Soylu said adding: "So far, the construction of nearly 59 thousand 679 houses has been completed."

"Of these completed briquette houses, 45,903 are in the Idlib region, and 13,776 are in the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch Operations region. 51 thousand 427 families have been settled in these houses so far."

Turkey's President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on May 3: "In total, there will be 100,000 houses that will contribute to lessening the suffering of our Syrian brothers and sisters."

Soylu referring to Erdoğan's statements, said:

"In line with the target given by our President, we continue constructing the briquette houses. Around us, next to our borders, there are 8 million people ready to migrate, 2 million Afghans on the Iranian border, 6 million of our Syrian brothers and sisters on the Syrian border." 

"If we do not create a safe zone in that area, these people will naturally come to us. Since we're on their way. This is not a question of opening or closing the border."

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"With this project, we conduct a migration strategy and ensure our security. We are also trying to provide a solution to that humanitarian crisis by creating safe zones there."

Syria has been locked in a civil war since early 2011 when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to the United Nations' (UN) estimates.(TB)