SYRIAN REFUGEES HEAD HOME FROM TURKEY FOR EID HOLIDAYS

Syrian refugees in Turkey have started heading home to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the close of Ramadan, after the Turkish government granted them a temporary right to return.

Turkey has taken in some 3 million Syrian refugees since the start of civil war in 2011, making it home to the world’s largest refugee population.

For some refugees, this is the first opportunity in several months to see friends and family. The majority of Syrian refugees in Turkey live outside government-built camps and struggle to make ends meet as the cost of food, rent and clothing usually exceeds their incomes.

“When we heard the announcement made by Turkish officials about the Syrian people, allowing them to come to Syria to see their families, I decided to come back. I am living in Ankara and I work at a phone company. I wanted to come back. I am about to get engaged and married, and I want to see my friends and family. Thank god we have crossed over, after many challenges we faced on the way,” said one of the returning refugees, Thafer Hindawi.

Refugees going home to Syria will need to return to Turkey within 45 days or face re-applying as new arrivals under the usual immigration process.

Facing criticism from Western allies that it was too slow to stop the flow jihadis from Syria, Turkey has fortified its 900 km (560 miles) border with fences, minefields, ditches and a wall.

Authorities say thousands of Syrians have returned to live in Syrian towns freed from Islamic State. Even so, Turkey’s biggest cities and border provinces still host hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Source: NRT English