Türkiye Says 1.425 Million Syrians Have Returned Since 2016
By Bosphorus News Türkiye Desk
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said 1.425 million Syrians have returned from Türkiye to their country since 2016, as Ankara ties the Syrian file to voluntary returns, border security and tighter controls on irregular migration.
Çiftçi said Türkiye currently hosts 3,632,064 foreigners with legal stay rights, including 2,264,983 Syrians under temporary protection.
He said the returns between 2016 and 2026 had taken place in a "voluntary, safe and dignified" manner, using Ankara's standard formulation for the return process. The figures were shared after a meeting in Ankara with lawmakers and officials from the Presidency of Migration Management and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority.
The Presidency of Migration Management's latest public statistical tables, dated June 18, placed the temporary-protection population at 2.259 million, down from a 2021 peak of 3.737 million. The minister's later statement put the current figure at 2.264 million.
The same statistical tables show that the largest Syrian temporary-protection populations remain concentrated in Istanbul, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Adana, Mersin, Hatay, Bursa, Konya, İzmir and Ankara, underlining the continuing domestic weight of the file even as return figures rise.
Çiftçi presented the numbers within a wider migration-management frame. He said Türkiye was continuing its fight against irregular migration and migrant smuggling across border areas, cities and maritime routes.
The minister said Türkiye had completed 1,329 kilometers of border security wall, with work continuing on another 110 kilometers. He also cited electro-optic towers, thermal cameras, observation towers, surveillance vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles as part of the border-monitoring system.
Çiftçi said the Coast Guard Command was securing Türkiye's 4,500-kilometer coastline with 323 floating assets and 23 aircraft.
The return figures come as Ankara has been trying to reopen and manage border corridors into Syria, including the Akçakale border gate, which Bosphorus News previously examined as part of Türkiye's Syria transition file.
Even after more than 1.4 million returns since 2016, more than 2.26 million Syrians remain under temporary protection in Türkiye. The official data therefore points to a dual track: rising returns on one side, and a still-large Syrian population under temporary protection on the other.
The Syrian return file has gained new weight since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, with Turkish officials presenting border crossings, local security and migration data as part of a managed transition rather than a rapid exit process.
The latest public statistical tables provide a province-level distribution for Syrians under temporary protection, but Çiftçi's statement did not include a separate updated figure for returns since December 2024.
Sources: Anadolu Agency, TRT Haber, Ekonomim, Hürriyet, Presidency of Migration Management, Bosphorus News review and reporting.