Türkiye announces over 25,000 Syrians returned home since Assad's fall

More than 25,000 Syrians in Türkiye have returned home to Syria since Bashar al Assad was overthrown by anti-regime groups, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has said.

"The number of people returning to Syria in the last 15 days has exceeded 25,000," Ali Yerlikaya told the official Anadolu news agency.

Türkiye is home to nearly four million refugees who fled the civil war that broke out in 2011 in Syria.

Ankara is in close touch with Syria's new administration and now focussing on the voluntary return of Syrian refugees as the shift of power in Damascus will allow many of them to return home.

Yerlikaya said a migration office would be established in the Turkish embassy and consulate in Damascus and Aleppo so that the records of returning Syrians could be kept.

Türkiye reopened its embassy in Damascus, nearly a week after Assad was toppled by anti-regime groups, and 12 years after the diplomatic outpost was shuttered early in Syria's civil war.

Yerlikaya said one person from each family will be given the right to enter and exit three times from January 1 to July 2025 under regulations to be drafted upon Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's instructions.

Syrians returning to their country will be able to take their belongings and cars with them, he added.