ANKARA: Following the abrupt overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad by rebels, President Tayyip Erdogan announced Monday that Turkey is opening its Yayladagi border gate with Syria to facilitate the safe and voluntary repatriation of the millions of Syrian migrants it hosts.
After 13 years of civil conflict and more than 50 years of his family’s violent reign, the Syrian capital Damascus was overrun by opposition troops, marking one of the most significant turning moments in Middle Eastern history. Assad then fled to Russia.
Following a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan declared, “We are opening the Yayladagi border gate to crossings to prevent any congestion and ease traffic.”
Due to fighting along the border, the Yayladagi crossing near Syria’s northwest border has been blocked since 2013. Erdogan declared, “We will also handle the processing of voluntary returns from immigrants in a manner appropriate to our hosting.”
Turkey will endeavor to ensure the safe and voluntary repatriation of the Syrian migrants it is hosting, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated earlier on Monday.
“I want the new Syrian administration to be inclusive and for Syrians to decide their own future,” Turkiye said on Sunday, denying any involvement or backing for the offensive by the Syrian opposition forces it had supported for years against Assad.
Speaking to the Turkish Ambassadors’ Conference in Ankara, Fidan stated that Turkey was working with all “regional actors and parties” and was prepared to support Syria’s reconstruction. He went on to say that while Ankara would support Syrians during this “new phase” in Damascus, the situation must not be advantageous to organizations that Ankara views as terrorists, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Islamic State.
The largest host of Syrians fleeing the civil war is Turkey, a member of NATO, which is home to almost 3 million Syrian migrants and refugees. Following multiple cross-border raids against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara views as an offshoot of the PKK, it also has authority over large areas of northern Syria.’
Expectations that the reconstruction in Syria will assist Turkish cement and construction industries caused their shares to soar on Monday.
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