After the recent earthquakes in southern Türkiye, 10,633 Syrians have voluntarily returned to their home country across the border, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Sunday, dismissing reports that the country faced a renewed migration wave.
Inspecting the frontier from the land and air in Hatay province and speaking with border officials, Akar said claims of an influx of Syrian refugees from Türkiye's southern border are "completely untrue."
"Contrary to the idea that there were intense crossings into Türkiye, they (border officials) said Syrian citizens crossed the border in one direction, from Türkiye to Syria. They stated that our Syrian brethren who lost their families and homes in the earthquake voluntarily returned to their homeland," he said.
"Thermal cameras and unmanned aerial vehicles are used to monitor our entire area of responsibility on a 24/7 basis. There's no movement at the border and no attempt to cross," Akar added.
Similarly, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said last Monday a new influx of refugees from Syria to Türkiye was "out of the question."
Türkiye is home to nearly 4 million Syrian refugees, having opened its borders to those fleeing the civil war that erupted there in 2011. Many are concentrated in the south of the country close to the Syrian border. Nearly half a million Syrians liven the Turkish city of Gaziantep, badly hit by the earthquake, making up a quarter of the population.
Over 5,800 people have died across Syria because of the Feb. 6 earthquake in Türkiye, the bulk in the opposition-held north, which had already suffered years of bombardment since conflict broke out in Syria in 2011.
According to the United Nations, 8.8 million people have been affected by the earthquake disaster in Syria, which sparked fears in Türkiye of a new refugee wave. However, Turkish officials have denied the reports as disinformation campaigns.
