ISTANBUL, Dec 15: More than 7,600 Syrian migrants crossed the Turkish border to return home in the five days after the fall of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, Turkey's interior minister said Sunday.
In a statement on X, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya listed the total number of Syrians "who returned voluntarily from Turkey" each day between December 9 and 13, with the five-day figure totalling 7,621 migrants.
Turkey is home to nearly three million refugees who fled Syria after the start of the civil war in 2011, with the fall of Assad raising hopes many would return home.
Early on Monday, AFP correspondents saw hundreds of refugees massing at the Cilvegozu border crossing some 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Aleppo, Syria's second city, with interior ministry figures showing 1,259 crossed that day. —AFP
