Soylu: 462,000 Syrians have returned to the liberated areas after the “Euphrates Shield” and “Olive Branch” military operations
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that the number of irregular migrants who have been impeded from entering Turkey from the southern and eastern sides since 2016 has reached two million and 327 thousand.
Soylu stressed in a speech during his participation in the meeting of the Migration Council in the capital, Ankara, that Turkey has taken concrete steps regarding migration, at a time when the world was still watching the influx of thousands of migrants from Syria as a result of the internal war in it.
Soylu pointed out that 462,000 Syrians have returned to the liberated areas through the “Euphrates Shield” and “Olive Branch” operayions stressing that Turkey is still encouraging the voluntary return of Syrians to their country.
Soylu noted that Turkey is continuing its talks with Iran in order to control the irregular migration flow towards Turkey from the Iranian side.Soylu concluded that since 2016, Turkey has returned 283,790 irregular migrants to their countries, including 71,000 Afghans and 40,000 Pakistanis.
Turkey hosts about 4 million Syrian refugees and has spent more than 40 billion dollars to provide them with basic services in the sectors of education, health, security and others.
Turkey is paying increasing attention to the crisis of migrants and asylum seekers, and is constantly working to alleviate their suffering in light of the European countries’ refusal to receive them, which has made it a major humanitarian crisis and burdened economic burdens
