Over 5,500 more refugees return home

Over 5,500 Syrians living in Turkey have returned voluntarily to their home country over the past two months as Turkey's anti-terrorism operations cleared their hometowns of terrorists.

A total of 5,767 Syrians living in several provinces of Turkey crossed to Syria via the southern Cilvegözu Border Gate between January and February, according to an Anadolu Agency (AA) analysis of official data.

Turkey hosts 4.7 million foreigners from 192 nations.

Since 2016, Turkey's Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northern Syria have liberated the region from the PKK's Syrian affiliate, the People's Protection Units (YPG), and Daesh terrorists, including al-Bab, Afrin and Azaz, making it possible for Syrians who fled the violence there to return home.

So far, more than 300,000 Syrians have been able to return to their homes voluntarily as a result of Turkey's ongoing efforts and previous operations establishing security in the war-torn country.

Turkey is home to more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees. Ten cities host some 2.8 million refugees, while others are scattered around the country. Since 2011, Turkey has received a constant flow of displaced Syrians fleeing the conflict, and their numbers have increased from mere thousands to millions. So far, Turkey has spent more than $30.2 billion on their wellbeing.

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

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed or displaced in the conflict, mainly by regime airstrikes targeting opposition-held areas.