Some Syrians are going home a year after the fall of Assad. Others are cautious about a one-way trip

At the Öncüpınar border crossing in southern Turkey, tables, chairs and sofas are piled high on the back of trucks lined up behind a gate. On the back of one sits a precariously strapped washing machine.

When the crossing arm lifts up, the trucks loaded with belongings drive forward toward the Syrian side of the border.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime last year, Turkish officials say more than 500,000 Syrians have returned home after living under temporary protection status for several years in Turkey. For many of those travelling now, their crossing is a one-way trip — once they leave they have no immediate option to return legally to Turkey.

"We have a lot of excitement. We want to go," said 25-year-old Hussein Alsheikh Mohamad. "We want our country to rise up."

Mohamad fled Syria 13 years ago to escape the civil war, and was one of more than three million refugees who sought shelter in Turkey.

On Dec. 1 as he spoke at the border with a crew from CBC News, he was moving back with his wife and his young daughter. He said he planned to stay with relatives temporarily, while he worked to repair his family home in Aleppo that suffered damage during the war. "There will certainly be difficulties," he said. "But we are going to try to make it work. "

'It's only been 1 year'

When Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011 after a violent government crackdown on protesters, it created a humanitarian crisis. In the years that followed, more than 12 million Syrians were forcibly displaced, with nearly all of them fleeing to neighbouring countries as refugees.

Turkey took in the highest number of Syrians, granting them temporary protection and giving them the legal right to stay. The government in Ankara received more than $16 billion from the EU to help support the Syrians and the communities hosting them.

Over the years, the presence of Syrian refugees in the country has been polarizing. In the most recent presidential election in 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, repeatedly promised that if he was elected, he would send all of the Syrians home.

Now hundreds of thousands are choosing to return, with more planning to in the future if the country stabilizes and rebuilds more of its critical infrastructure.

"There are a lot of things that have to be done there," said Cuma Hidir, 26, a Syrian who fled to Turkey 14 years ago.

"We need to be patient. It's only been one year, I think in two or three years it will be better."

Hidir told CBC News he remembers fleeing the bombings along with nine other members of his family. After he arrived in Turkey, they spent around six months living in a tent in a camp before eventually renting an apartment.

The 26-year-old is now a father of two and works in a textile factory in the southern city of Gaziantep.

Hidir said his family home wasn’t damaged in the war, but collapsed in a devastating earthquake that struck the region in 2023. He understands that in his neighbourhood there are still long stretches of time with no water or electricity.

 

The World Bank estimates that reconstruction costs in Syria will soar over $200 billion US, with the cities of Aleppo and Homs being among the most severely affected areas.

In a recently released report, the World Bank called the rebuilding challenges immense. However, what could prove more difficult is task of trying to united a fractured society.

The country’s new government swept into power Dec. 8, 2024, in a dramatic political shift, after opposition forces led by the Islamist military group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took over the capital Damascus, and al-Assad fled to Russia.

While Syria is more stable, the government isn’t in control of all of the regions, and thousands have been killed in sectarian violence during the past year.

Şakir Dinçşahin, a political science professor at Istanbul Gedik University, has researched the Syrian experience in Turkey, and recently returned from a trip to Syria, where he spoke with some who had returned. He believes more Syrian refugees will decide to venture home if the new government is able to stabilize the country.

"If Syrians trust the government, trust the new system, new regime, they would be willing to go back to Syria because it is the land where they feel comfortable," he said.

The International Rescue Committee, a global non-profit organization, conducted four surveys over the past year in an attempt to provide a snapshot of whether Syrian refugees were planning to return.

The most recent survey conducted in September showed that just under half of Syrian refugees surveyed intended to return to Syria, while around a quarter said they were unsure. Another quarter planned to stay in Turkey.

One way trip

Between Jan. 1 and July 1, Syrians living under temporary protection in Turkey could designate one adult per family to travel up to three times to Syria and still be allowed back into Turkey.

Now if they leave, Syrians are only able to come back if they have a visa or if they have been granted Turkish citizenship, which around a quarter of a million Syrians have, according to government figures.

Dinçşahin told CBC News that the Syrians he has spoken with were either motivated to return home because of a strong desire to help rebuild their country, or because their financial situation in Turkey was difficult.

Over the years, there has been repeated tension with some in Turkey accusing the Syrians of making the economic conditions worse and threatening their jobs.

Dinçşahin dismisses any suggestion that it was a widespread sentiment, claiming that the Syrians are well-integrated into society and that any anti-migrant attitude there is similar to what can be found among those protesting in Britain or in Germany.

He insists that there is no government pressure on the Syrians to return, and that Turkey is providing help for those who choose to go.

The paperwork of going home 

Reception centres have been set up to help with any missing documents or legal issues.

Merva Doğru, a senior specialist in the Migration Coordination and Information Management Department with the Turkish Red Crescent, told CBC News that one of the biggest challenges is having the proper paperwork in order to take children back to Syria.

In order to reduce the threat of human trafficking, she says children are only allowed to go with their parents or legal guardians, and in some cases, families need to go to court and cases can take months.

Doğru says sometimes Syrian families ask for guidance as they are unsure about how easy it will be to access education and health-care services if they return. In those cases she says they connect them with agencies working in Syria.

Back at the border, 62-year-old Lutfiya Hassan wiped away tears as she prepared to hand over her documents to border guards.

She and her husband were returning to Aleppo because life had become too expensive for them in Turkey, and neither of them were working. Once their house in Syria is repaired she said it would be much cheaper for them.

However, the rest of her family is staying behind, including a grandson that she had been raising after both of his parents were killed in the war.

"Let’s see how the situation is there," she said.

"If it gets better, they may go to Syria. If not, they will stay here."