Syrians who have spent years living precariously in Turkey say they finally feel able to return home after the fall of Bashar Al Assad, despite the challenges ahead in rebuilding the country after more than 13 years of war.
Many are expecting emotional reunions with family members from whom they have been separated for too long. Youssef Ismail, 28, was among about 100 people queuing on Wednesday at the Cilvegozu border crossing in Turkey’s Hatay province. He was waiting for Turkish officials to process his papers so he could return to his parents in Homs, whom he had not seen for about a decade.
“You can’t really describe how it feels, not seeing your family for eight years,” he said, amid a huddle of men queuing at the border. “It’s really tough.”
A painter and decorator in Hatay, Youssef said he had been planning to finish some work in Turkey before returning to his parents, but he could not bear being away from them any longer.
“I honestly couldn’t wait any more,” he told The National. “I have hope that Syria will be better, and stable. It’s the end of the oppression.”
In the past few days, after the fall of the Assad regime, Turkey has opened three border crossings with Syria for those wanting to return home voluntarily.
More than 3.5 million Syrians are registered with the UN’s refugee agency in Turkey. That makes the country the largest host of Syrians who fled their homes after a brutal crackdown on the 2011 anti-government protests, which spiralled into civil war.
In figures released three days before Mr Al Assad’s fall, Turkey’s migration management authority said that the number of registered Syrians in the country was down to 2.9 million – the disparity in the government and UN numbers is attributable to both voluntary and forced returns that preceded the rebels' advances into Damascus.
Turks initially welcomed Syrians, sympathetic to the violence they faced at home, and employed them in jobs for longer hours and on lower wages than most nationals are willing to accept. They received “temporary protection status,” which does not grant them full refugee rights, because of a quirk in legal interpretations that means Turkey only recognises people fleeing Europe as refugees.
Ankara has received billions of dollars from the EU and other donors to provide services for Syrians, including health care and education. But anti-migrant sentiment has grown in Turkey and Syrians have found themselves less welcome. After Mr Al Assad as ousted, Turkish officials encouraged Syrians to go home.
“We can never allow Syria to become a land of chaos, and we can never accept any provocation against the safe and voluntary return of the Syrian people to their homeland,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Turkish politicians this week.
All the returning Syrians interviewed at the border on Wednesday gave Mr Al Assad’s fall from power as the main reason they now felt able to go home. Many said they feared the detention, torture, and military conscription that were widespread under Mr Al Assad’s rule.
“We are returning because the oppressive regime is gone,” said Mohammed Suleiman Jiha, 34, who had been working as a stonemason in south-eastern Turkey. “It killed and displaced its people. I hope the regime is held accountable.”
He said his home in the eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus had been destroyed during the conflict but that did not stop him from wanting to return. “I’ll sleep in a tent. The important thing is that I’m going back.” said Mohammed.
A queue of people bundled up in coats and hats, dragging suitcases and rucksacks, shuffled into a mobile office staffed by Turkey’s migration management authority to hand over their residency permits before proceeding to the border crossing point. Children snacked on simits – Turkish bagels – and men smoked cigarettes.
According to a member of the Turkish security forces at the border, the residency permits of Syrians are cancelled on exit – making it extremely difficult for them to come back and live in Turkey.
“People want to return to their country,” the force said.
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Turkey’s migration management authority was unable to provide exact figures on how many Syrians had returned home from Turkey since Mr Al Assad’s fall and although some Syrians are choosing to return voluntarily, Ankara still has obligations towards people who decide the time is not yet right.
“States that host Syrian refugees need to keep focusing on the voluntary nature of returns,” Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, told The National. “It has been just a matter of days since Syria’s liberation and refugees everywhere have the right to take the time and space to make an informed and voluntary decision over when is good for them to return.”
Among them is Miskat Hilayel, 31, from Kafrnabel in Idlib province. He had returned across the border into Turkey after a visit to Syria to seek information on his brother, who disappeared after being detained by Mr Al Assad's security forces.
“Our home is destroyed, and there are mines everywhere,” he said – an indication of the dangers and destruction in Syria after so many years of conflict. “We will wait a while before returning.”
Not everyone’s attempt to return home has been smooth. Bassem Ahmer, 25, from Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, said he had been turned away by border authorities over an issue with his records. A Palestinian-Syrian, he was deported back to Turkey from Bulgaria after trying to enter Europe about a year ago. Upon return, Turkish authorities took his fingerprints and he registered himself as Palestinian to avoid the risk of deportation to Syria. But that now does not match his identity card, which is Syrian, meaning border authorities turned him back at Cilvegozu.
Syrians going home from Turkey are well aware of the challenges ahead of them. The country’s infrastructure has been destroyed and its economy has suffered under the weight of corruption, sanctions and mismanagement. Returnees said that the more people went back, the more chance there was of the embattled Syrian economy improving.
“My home is destroyed but we will build it back room by room,” said Ahmed Al Awad, 24, who was returning to Syria with his wife Majda and his two-year-old daughter, Sham. “We will create work, open shops, the more people go back, the better.”
Syria’s new leaders should provide a stable and secure home for their families, they added, still in shock at the speed of the sea change in their country. They want to create a new era of unity among Syria’s many different ethnic and religious groups. “We don’t have a problem with Alawites, Christians, or Muslims. It was Bashar who was the oppressor,” said Mohmmed Jiha, as he turned to join the queue of people moving towards the border.
The change “was a surprise to us,” he added. “In the space of ten days, Syria was ours.”
