Syrians return to terror-free zones aided by Turkey

KILIS, Turkey

A small wave of Syrians, who escaped to Turkey, recently began returning to terror-free zones in their homeland on Thursday.

About 130 Syrians, including women and children who were living in different provinces of Turkey, were sent by buses to northwestern Syria from southern Kilis province’s Immigration Directorate of Administration office.

Syrians are supported under the UN’s Voluntary Repatriation Program.

Since 2016, Turkey conducted two major military operations in northwestern Syria -- Operations Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch -- to purge the region of the terror groups Daesh and the YPG, which is the Syrian branch of the terror outfit PKK.

Abdulmecid Halaf told Anadolu Agency he came to Turkey five years ago and started living in Istanbul.

“I had no problem since the day I arrived in Turkey, but now I want to return to my country,” he said. “I miss my mother, my father and my wife very much.”

“Thanks to the Turkish state, the region we live in has been cleared of terrorism. I want to spend my life in my country,” he said.

So far, 337,729 Syrians have voluntarily returned since 2015.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone where acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

The de-escalation zone is currently inhabited by about 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced by regime forces throughout the war-weary country.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011 when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.

*Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur