Turkey is seeking to create a “safe zone” for refugees in Syria, where they should return only “voluntarily”, but how realistic the project is and to what extent can Turkey’s intentions be trusted?
As joint Turkish-Russian military patrols begin on Friday, security in Northern Syria remains fragile despite the Sochi agreement reached by the two countries. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is keen to send Syrian refugees back. Turkey currently hosts about 3.6 million Syrian refugees.
Erdogan plans to send at least 1 million of these refugees, if not more, to the so-called “safe zone” – an area over which Turkey gained control during its military operation “Peace spring”. However, the Turkish authorities insist that the resettlement will only be voluntary.
Turkey has already been criticized for forcing Syrian refugees to leave, according to a recent Amnesty International report. The Turkish government strongly rejects this.
Andreas Nik, a Christian democratic Union (CDU) MP who also sits on the foreign Affairs Committee in the German Parliament, stated that allowing people who hail from the region to return home “would be a possible scenario, but we would not support any forced resettlement of refugees”.