120 Syrian refugees in Turkey return home

By Izzet Mazi

KILIS, Turkey (AA) - Ramzia Basmaji returned to Syria after spending five years as a refugee in Turkey.

She is among the 120 Syrians who took a trip from Turkey to northern Syria's town of Azaz on Tuesday which was liberated from the Daesh terrorist organization.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, she said: "Everything is beautiful here [in Turkey]. This became our homeland just like Syria, but my children are there [in Syria], so I decided to return.”

The displaced Syrians were repatriated as part of a voluntary return program.

They traveled to Azaz in minibuses after undergoing security checks at the Oncupinar border crossing in the southern Turkish province of Kilis.

The town, which lies just across the Turkish border, was liberated in Aug. 2016 by the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA).

The FSA fighters on the border have been helping civilians in returning to Syria.

Husain Muhammad, one of the returning Syrians, said he was pleased to reunite with his family.

“I thank the Turkish nation. They accepted us as a guest. We have been here for five years. They gave us jobs, they gave us food. But now we want to return home. I missed my country, my family, my village, missed everything there,” he said.

Nearly 62,000 Syrians have returned home through the Oncupinar border gate since Dec. 1, 2015.

In 2016, Turkey launched Operation Euphrates Shield, a military campaign aimed at clearing Daesh terrorists from the Turkish-Syrian border region.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating civil war that began in 2011. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict and millions more displaced, according to the UN.

Turkey currently hosts 3.2 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world.