IstanbulcTypeface:> Some 35,000 Syrian refugees have left Turkey to return to their home country since the fall of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, according to official estimates.
This means the same number of people have left Turkey since the beginning of December as in a normal three-month period, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on NTV.
Turkey, which borders Syria to the north, has taken in the largest share of refugees from the war-torn country.
According to Yerlikaya, some 2.9 million Syrian refugees are currently living in Turkey, including nearly 1 million children born there. Refugee children born in Turkey are not eligible for citizenship, but are given temporary protective status like their parents. Syrians living in Turkey have faced a rise in hostilities towards them, as more and more people in the government and the opposition demand that they return home.
Millions of Syrians fled the country in the wake of the civil war that broke out when the regime violently suppressed Arab Spring pro-democracy protests in 2011. (DPA)
