ISTANBUL, December 24. /TASS/. More than 25,000 Syrian refugees have returned to their homeland from Turkey following the change in government in their country, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday.
"Since the regime change on December 8, over 25,000 refugees have returned home from Turkey. The latest data shows that 2,920,000 of the 4,100,000 foreigners who are legally residing in Turkey are Syrians," the minister told Anadolu Agency.
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced plans to ensure the return of about 1 million Syrian refugees who have fled the country since 2011.
On November 27, Syria’s armed opposition launched a large-scale offensive against government forces in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. By the evening of December 7, President Bashar Assad’s opponents had seized several major cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Daraa, and Homs. On December 8, they entered Damascus, forcing the army to withdraw from the capital. Assad resigned and left the country. On December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir, who had led the so-called Syrian Salvation Government in the Idlib Province since January 2024, announced his appointment as head of Syria’s interim government until March 1, 2025.