Turkey will never push Syrian refugees to go back to their countries, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday.
Addressing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) meeting in the capital Ankara, the president slammed the opposition parties' recent calls to send refugees and migrants back.
"As long as we are in power, you will not be able to send these brothers back from this country," he said.
"When these brothers of ours want to return on their own initiative, they will return anyway," he said, adding "but we will never hand them over to the enemy at gunpoint."
Those who fled persecution and war in Iraq, Syria, or elsewhere and sought protection in our country are guests, Erdoğan said.
If they want to return voluntarily, they can return, otherwise, our doors will remain open to refugees, he added.
"Turkey will not push them into the arms of murderers," Erdoğan said, adding that hosting those who need protection is part of Turkish tradition.
Erdoğan recently announced a new plan in which hundreds of thousands of homes will be built in opposition-held northern Syria, along with schools, hospitals, and other needed institutions.
Some 4 million Syrian refugees currently live in Turkey, more than any country in the world, and Erdoğan said he expected the plan would draw some 1 million of them to voluntarily return to Syria to resettle. Since 2016, the Turkish military also cleared much of the area of terrorist groups to make it safe for resettlement.
The president’s words come amid increasingly hostile sentiment toward refugees in the country, fuelled by some parties and figures. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chairperson, and other politicians had announced they would send back Syrian refugees if they win next year's presidential and parliamentary elections. However, the debate on migrants living in Turkey is mainly fuelled by the small far-right Victory Party (ZP).
