The administration of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Syria and Turkey revealed on Sunday the number of Syrian refugees deported by Turkey to Syrian territory during June.
The administration of the crossing, which is controlled by Turkish-backed opposition factions, posted on its official page on Facebook a video, reporting that the number of Syrian refugees deported from Turkey to Syria reached 1,729 individuals including women, men and children.
On May 3rd, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan disclosed his plan to settle about one million Syrian refugees in 13 Syrian areas, which are not the areas the refugees are originally from, adjacent to the southern border of Turkey starting from Azaz in the west to Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) in the east.
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“We are preparing a new project for the voluntary return of one million Syrian brothers who are in our country as guests,” Erdogan said.
The area of the new settlement exceeds 30,000 square meters.
The number of settlements Turkey built in Idleb has reached about 50, most of them near the Mashhad Rouhin area, north of Idleb, according to North Press correspondents.
While 45 settlements were built in Afrin, Azaz and Jarablus, north and east of Aleppo Governorate in the second half of 2021 and the first half of 2022.
In April, Turkey deported 1.323 Syrian refugees, according to the crossing’s administration.
Turkey hosts about 4.5 million Syrian refugees, according to official Turkish sources, while unofficial Turkish sources pointed out that there are about 5 million Syrian refugees, some of whom have not been registered.
The Turkish authorities occasionally carry out campaigns to arrest Syrians who are illegally residing in Turkey, and then deport them to Syria.
Last month, the crossing witnessed a significant increase in the number of Syrian refugees deported by the Turkish authorities, which was almost daily and often collectively in the form of convoys, the smallest of which included 20 people, according to a source from the crossing.
The deported people arrive in Idleb, and many of them are residents of other Syrian governorates, and they do not have any relatives to turn to, which made some of them sleep in mosques and other public facilities, the source added.
The Syrian opposition, which controls Idleb Governorate, northwestern Syria, did not take any measures to help those deported from Turkey, the source noted.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
