Syrians in Turkey think about return after fall of Assad

[ad_1] Orla Guerin Senior Worldwide Correspondent in Gaziantep, Turkey

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/7361/live/911c6c80-dc32-11f0-9509-6dc8fe227516.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/7361/live/911c6c80-dc32-11f0-9509-6dc8fe227516.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7361/live/911c6c80-dc32-11f0-9509-6dc8fe227516.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/7361/live/911c6c80-dc32-11f0-9509-6dc8fe227516.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/7361/live/911c6c80-dc32-11f0-9509-6dc8fe227516.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/7361/live/911c6c80-dc32-11f0-9509-6dc8fe227516.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/7361/live/911c6c80-dc32-11f0-9509-6dc8fe227516.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7361/live/911c6c80-dc32-11f0-9509-6dc8fe227516.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="BBC Photo of Aya Mustafa. She is looking directly at the camera wearing a black headscarf and a green winter coat. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> BBC Aya Mustafa needs to return residence however not but

The pull of residence will be robust – even when it's a place you may't bear in mind.

That's how it's for Ahmed, 18. He emerges from a mosque within the coronary heart of Gaziantep in south-east Turkey - not removed from the Syrian border - carrying a black T-shirt with "Syria" written on the entrance.

His household fled his homeland when he was 5 years previous, however he's planning to return in a 12 months or two at most.

"I'm impatient to get there," he tells me. "I'm attempting to save cash first, as a result of wages in Syria are low." Nonetheless, he insists the long run will likely be higher there.

"Syria will likely be rebuilt and it is going to be like gold," he says.

If he goes again, he will likely be following within the footsteps of greater than half 1,000,000 Syrians who've left Turkey because the ousting of Syria's long-time dictator, Bashar al-Assad, in December 2024.

Many had been right here since 2011, when civil struggle started devouring their nation.

Within the years that adopted, Turkey grew to become a secure haven, taking in additional Syrians than another nation. The quantity reached 3.5 million at its peak, inflicting political rigidity and - now and again - xenophobic assaults.

Formally, no Syrian will likely be compelled to go, however some really feel they're being pushed - by bureaucratic modifications, and by a waning welcome.

Civil society organisations "are getting the message from the authorities that it is time to go", says a Syrian lady who didn't need to be named.

"I've numerous good Turkish associates. Even they and my neighbours have requested why I'm nonetheless right here. In fact we'll return, however in an organised approach. If all of us return collectively, it is going to be chaos."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/c4db/live/dad975a0-dc34-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/c4db/live/dad975a0-dc34-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c4db/live/dad975a0-dc34-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/c4db/live/dad975a0-dc34-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/c4db/live/dad975a0-dc34-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/c4db/live/dad975a0-dc34-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/c4db/live/dad975a0-dc34-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c4db/live/dad975a0-dc34-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Posters and framed portraits of Bashar al-Assad are seen in the bin at the Ministry Of Information building on December 15, 2024 in Damascus, Syria. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photographs Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December 2024

Aya Mustafa, 32, is raring to depart - however not but. We meet below a winter solar by the stone partitions of a fort, which has towered over Gaziantep because the Byzantine period. Her hometown, Aleppo, is lower than two hours' drive away.

She says going again is a continuing subject of dialog within the Syrian group.

"On daily basis, each hour, we discuss this level," says Aya, whose household had been legal professionals and academics again residence, however needed to begin once more in Turkey, baking and hairdressing to earn a dwelling.

"We're speaking about how we are able to return, and when, and what we are able to do. However there are numerous challenges, to be trustworthy. Many households have kids who had been born right here and may't even converse Arabic."

Then there may be the extent of destruction in new Syria - the place struggle has accomplished its worst - and the place the interim president, Ahmed Al Sharaa, is a former senior chief of Al Qaeda who has labored to reinvent his picture.

Aya noticed the ruins of Aleppo for herself when she went again to go to. Her household residence remains to be standing however now occupied by another person.

"It is a massive choice to return to Syria," she says, "particularly for individuals with aged relations. I've my grandmother and my disabled sister. We want the fundamentals like electrical energy and water and jobs to outlive there."

For now, she says, her household cannot survive in Syria, however they'll return in time.

"We imagine that day will come," she says, with a broad smile. "It can take some years [to rebuild]. However in the long run, we'll see everybody in Syria."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/c9a0/live/ead991f0-dc35-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/c9a0/live/ead991f0-dc35-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c9a0/live/ead991f0-dc35-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/c9a0/live/ead991f0-dc35-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/c9a0/live/ead991f0-dc35-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/c9a0/live/ead991f0-dc35-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/c9a0/live/ead991f0-dc35-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c9a0/live/ead991f0-dc35-11f0-a665-27b3eb61cb96.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP via Getty Images Ahmed al-Sharaa waves to the crowd at the gate of Aleppo's Citadel during celebrations marking one year since an Islamist alliance, led by Sharaa, entered the northern city and swiftly took control of it, on 29 November 2025." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> AFP through Getty Photographs Syria's interim President, Ahmed Al Sharaa, is a former chief of Al Qaeda who has labored to reinvent his picture

A brief drive away, we get a really completely different view from a Syrian household of 4 - father, mom and two teenage sons. The daddy - who doesn't need to be named - runs an assist organisation serving to his fellow countrymen. Over glasses of tea and helpings of baklava, I ask if he and his household would transfer again. His response is swift and adamant.

"No, not for me and for my household," he says. "And the identical goes for my organisation. We have now initiatives inside Syria, and we hope to increase that exercise. However my household and my organisation will keep right here in Turkey."

Requested why, he lists issues with the financial system, safety, schooling and the well being system. Syria's interim authorities "hasn't any expertise to cope with the state of affairs", he tells me. "Some ask us to present them an opportunity, however one 12 months has handed and the indications will not be good."

He too has visited the brand new Syria, and, like Aya, was not reassured. "The safety state of affairs may be very dangerous," he says. "On daily basis there are killings. No matter who the victims are, they've souls."

His voice softens when he speaks of his 80-year-old father in Damascus, who hasn't seen his grandsons for 12 years, and should by no means see them once more.

For now, he and his household can stay in Turkey, however he is already making contingency plans in case authorities coverage modifications.

"Plan A is that we'll keep right here in Turkey," he says. "If we can't, I am eager about plan B, C and even D. I'm an engineer, at all times planning."

None of these plans contain a return to Syria.

If going residence is tough, staying in Turkey is not straightforward both. Syrians have "momentary safety" that comes with restrictions. They aren't supposed to depart the cities the place they're first registered. Work permits are laborious to get, and lots of are in low paid jobs, dwelling on the margins.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who backed the rebellion towards Assad - has insisted that no Syrian will likely be pushed out, however refugee advocates say there are rising pressures beneath the floor.

They level to the ending of free medical look after Syrians from January, and new authorities rules which make it costlier to rent them.

"These new parts solid a shadow over how voluntary returns are," says Metin Corabatir, who heads an unbiased Turkish analysis centre on asylum and migration, IGAM.

And he says presidential and parliamentary elections – due by 2028 – could also be one other menace for Syrians right here.

"Usually President Erdogan is their predominant protector," Mr Corabatir tells me. "He says they will keep so long as they need. And he repeated this after the regime modified. But when there may be an election, and a political achieve for the AKP [ruling party] to make, there is perhaps some coverage modifications."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/0993/live/65cfbaf0-dc37-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/0993/live/65cfbaf0-dc37-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0993/live/65cfbaf0-dc37-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/0993/live/65cfbaf0-dc37-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/0993/live/65cfbaf0-dc37-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/0993/live/65cfbaf0-dc37-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/0993/live/65cfbaf0-dc37-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0993/live/65cfbaf0-dc37-11f0-a8dc-93c15fe68710.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Syrian refugees residing in Turkey return to their homeland through the Cilvegözü Border Gate in Hatay on 11 December 2024." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Photographs Greater than half 1,000,000 Syrians have left Turkey because the ousting of Assad

Recent elections might revive the xenophobic rhetoric that featured within the final polls, he warns. "These emotions went to sleep," he says, "however I'm fairly certain the infrastructure of this xenophobic angle remains to be alive."

On a chilly gray morning at a border crossing an hour's drive from Gaziantep the hills of Syria are seen, a brief distance away.

Mahmud Sattouf and his spouse Suad Helal are heading to their homeland – this time only for a go to. They've Turkish citizenship, so they'll have the ability to return. For different Syrians, the journey is now one-way.

Mahmud, a instructor, is beaming with pleasure.

"We're returning as a result of we love our nation," he says. "It is a terrific pleasure. I can not describe it in phrases. As we are saying in English: 'East, west, house is greatest'."

He and Suad will transfer residence in a couple of 12 months, he tells us, when Syria is extra settled, together with their 4 sons, and their households.