A total of 526,932 Syrians have returned so far to safe areas in their country, Deputy Interior Minister Ismail Çataklı said on Wednesday.

"The number of Syrians who returned to their country voluntarily reached 526,932. As of today, the number of Syrians registered under temporary protection status is 3,646,278," Çataklı said at the ministry's monthly press briefing.

Since launching several operations in northern Syria to fight terrorism, Türkiye has been supporting every aspect of life in the region, from health to education, security and agriculture. In this respect, efforts to clear bombs and improvised explosive devices were launched and administration duties were given to local councils. The country also rolled up its sleeves to reconstruct hospitals, schools, mosques and roads destroyed by terrorist groups. Within the scope of ameliorating the region's social infrastructure, people were provided food and clothing by several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) while roads and buildings were rebuilt. These efforts paid off as hundreds of displaced Syrians started to return to the liberated areas.

The briquette houses constructed in safe areas provide a secure shelter for Syrians fleeing the oppression of the Bashar Assad regime and its backer Russia.

For years, the Assad regime has ignored the needs and safety of the Syrian people, only eyeing further gains of territory and crushing the opposition. With this aim, the regime has for years bombed vital facilities like schools, hospitals and residential areas, causing the displacement of almost half of the country’s population while adopting policies to make their lives more difficult.

Türkiye has been emphasizing the need to facilitate voluntary returns and has criticized the lack of support by Western countries to establish living conditions for Syrians in areas outside the control of the Assad regime and terrorist groups.

Within this scope, Türkiye is working with neighboring countries, including Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

Türkiye has welcomed nearly 5 million refugees in total including Syrians and Afghans, but their presence has led to tensions with locals, especially as the country suffered an economic crisis last summer.

Several opposition parties regularly call for the return of Syrian refugees to their home country.

Responding to the opposition, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in May vowed that Türkiye will never push Syrian refugees to return to their countries.

Çataklı also said that Türkiye is fighting irregular migration, however, putting emphasis on the fact that Ankara does not act against human honor.

"In September 2022, a total of 26,699 irregular migrants, of which 5,710 were at sea, and 1,130 organizers were caught. We see that the number of irregular migrants apprehended since January has reached 215,482," Çataklı highlighted.

"Since 2016, 2,688,137 irregular migrants have been prevented from entering our country. Since January, we have deported a total of 88,367 irregular migrants, including 50,946 from Afghanistan and 9,771 from Pakistan," he added.

Humanitarian assistance

Çataklı also touched upon Ankara’s global humanitarian aid efforts and that that work is ongoing in five continents and 70 countries.

Reiterating that the 13th "Kindness Train" left Ankara in September, Çataklı said that Türkiye also sent around 9,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Pakistan with 15 flights.

The number of casualties from flood-related incidents across the country since mid-June stands at 1,576, according to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority.

Some 803,400 houses have been completely destroyed, while over 1.21 million houses are partially damaged across the country.

Meanwhile, the sixth aid train left for Afghanistan with aid material for 1.25 million people.

145 terrorists eliminated

Some 145 terrorists, four of which were in the gray and another four in the orange category, have been eliminated in operations throughout September, Çataklı said on counterterrorism efforts.

He reiterated that the Eren Abluka Fall-Winter operations were launched on Oct. 1.

"In September, we carried out a total of 12,817 rural operations against the PKK, 12 of which were large and 30 of which were medium-sized. We carried out 977 operations against cell structures and collaborators operating in cities, covering all terrorist organizations," he said.

Pointing out that 80 bunkers, shelters and caves were rendered unusable within the scope of the operations, Çataklı said that 186 guns, 156 of which are heavy and long-barreled, 18 mines/IEDs, 204 grenades, 364 kilograms (802.48 pounds) of explosives and 285,686 various types of ammunition were seized and that in September, a total of 16 terrorist acts were prevented.