The Interior Ministry’s “address update” for those in temporary protection status revealed that more people are returning from Türkiye to Syria, where the unrest began in 2011 and displaced millions. The ministry staff went door-to-door to check up on Syrian refugees registered with authorities and prepared statistics on the up-to-date number of refugees. Figures show around 11,000 Syrian nationals go back to Syria monthly, while about 219,000 others are believed to have left for Europe overall.
Türkiye still hosts more than 3 million Syrian refugees, one of the largest in the world. As part of the address update work, authorities discovered 731,000 Syrian nationals were not residing in the addresses they originally registered and were given a deadline to update their location. Two hundred forty-two thousand among them updated their addresses, while 196,000 others set appointments for updates. Some 291,000 others have not applied for an appointment yet, while the deadline for the update will expire at the end of October. The Interior Ministry also coordinates the work with other ministries to check whether previously registered refugees have recently accessed education or health care services. Those who have not applied for the update will be excluded from public services.
Authorities believe those not applying for updates and not found in their registered addresses likely left for other countries, particularly in Europe, illegally. Official data shows that the number of Syrians in Türkiye, as well as childbirths among refugees, are gradually declining and expected to decrease more.
Between 2016 and 2024, a total of 715,000 Syrians returned to their country. The number of those returning since June 1, 2023, reached 160,000. Voluntary returns to Syria are tied to the creation of safe zones in Syria’s north. Türkiye launched several cross-border military operations in the region against terrorist groups Daesh and PKK/YPG in the past decade, helping the Syrian opposition to gain control of wide swathes of land in the north. Ankara also assists towns liberated from terrorism in reconstruction and rebuilding while charities construct briquette homes for returnees. Türkiye last launched Operation Peace Spring on Oct. 9, 2019, under its right to self-defense as stipulated in Article 51 of the U.N. Charter to target terrorist groups, particularly the PKK/YPG, which threatened the national security in northern Syria. Within four days, Turkish forces cleared the town of Ras al-Ain and a day later, Tal Abyad was liberated from terrorists. Overall, the operation secured more than 4,000 square kilometers (1,544.41 square miles) and approximately 600 settlements from terrorist control. After the operation, Türkiye's armed forces and the Syrian opposition forces focused on maintaining security and enabling displaced civilians to return home. Since the establishment of local councils, which also provide job opportunities, the region has seen significant infrastructure improvements, including the resolution of water and power shortages.
Once the update work is concluded, Türkiye will find out the true number of Syrian refugees still in Türkiye while those not updating their addresses will have their current refugee status dropped.
In August, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said that Türkiye stopped a migration wave from its southern neighbor Syria. “Seven million people live now in the secure zone we formed in Syria to prevent migration and against terrorism. (People) no longer cross into Türkiye. We stopped migration at its source,” he said in an interview with the Sabah newspaper last August.
Syrians make up the majority of the 4.4 million people registered as refugees and foreigners in the country. Türkiye looks to accelerate their return in a dignified, voluntary way and repeatedly signaled its readiness to step up talks with the Assad regime for normalization of ties to ensure it.
