Syrians: ‘It’s time for us to go‘
Whistling, halay, singing and hundreds of Syrians chanting the takbir…
There is an unprecedented excitement in Altındağ, where the largest number of Syrian refugees have been living in Ankara since the Syrian civil war.
The celebrations in the district have been going on since the early hours of the morning.
The Syrians we spoke to say that they have not slept since the night before, have been following the developments from moment to moment and have finally thrown themselves onto the streets to celebrate.
The excitement has been going on for hours in the district square, where the police have provided controlled passage.
The same words come out of the mouths of all Syrians, men, women, young and old: “It is time for us to go now.”
Syrians are happy to be returning to their country.
Almost every Syrian we spoke to says that it is now safe to return to Syria and that many of them will return in time.
There is unprecedented excitement in Altındağ, which has been home to the largest number of Syrian refugees in Ankara since the Syrian civil war.
The celebrations in the district have been going on since the early hours of the morning.
The Syrians we spoke to say that they have not slept since the night before, have been following developments from moment to moment, and have finally taken to the streets to celebrate.
The excitement has been going on for hours in the district square, where the police have provided controlled passage.
The same words come from the mouths of all Syrians, men, women, young and old: “It is time for us to go.”
Syrians are happy to be returning to their country.
Almost every Syrian we spoke to says that it is now safe to return to Syria and that many of them will return in time.
We go to two young men carrying both Turkish and Syrian opposition flags.
Asif, in his 20s from Hama, says, “I am so happy, this is the first time I have felt so happy in my life.”
“We have not slept since last night. I cannot express my feelings in words. No one will stay here anymore. Everyone wants to return now because the war in our country is over. We thank Turkey very much.”
His friend Ayham from Aleppo says that his home and work are waiting for him:
“We have everything there; our home and our work are still there. We could not return because of Assad’s cruelty. We escaped from the hands of the tyrant Assad. We had to leave our country because we did not want to kill our own citizens. Now everything is over, we are returning.”
Maher, who said his house in Aleppo was destroyed and he had nothing left, said, “No way, we will go and rebuild everything.”
10-year-old İslam, who speaks fluent Turkish, intervenes by saying, “Sister, we are very happy.”
“We thank Erdoğan very much, I love Turkey very much. They helped us a lot.”
Following the civil war that began in Syria in 2011, millions of people came to Turkey.
In his latest statement on November 20, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that the number of Syrians was 2,935,742.
How did the number of registered Syrians in Turkey fall below three million?
Istanbul is the city with the largest Syrian population in the country. Around 500,000 Syrians under temporary protection status live in the city.
Istanbul is followed by Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Hatay, Adana, Mersin, Bursa, Konya, İzmir and Ankara.
The city with the fewest Syrians in Turkey is Hakkari, which hosts only eight Syrians.
Again, there are 28 Syrians living in Tunceli, 34 in Bayburt, 63 in Iğdır and 75 in Artvin, among the cities with the fewest Syrians.
