By Ece Toksabay and Mert Ozkan
CILVEGOZU, Turkey (Reuters) – Syrians lined up at the Turkish border on Wednesday to head home after rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad, speaking of their expectations for a better life following what was for many a decade of hardship in Turkey.
“We have no one here. We are going back to Latakia, where we have family,” said Mustafa as he prepared to enter Syria with his wife and three sons at the Cilvegozu border gate in southern Turkey. Dozens more Syrians were waiting to cross.
Mustafa fled Syria in 2012, a year after the conflict there began, to escape conscription into Assad’s army. For years he did unregistered jobs in Turkey earning less than the minimum wage, he said.
“Now there’s a better Syria. God willing, we will have a better life there,” he said, expressing confidence in the new leadership in Syria as he watched over the family’s belongings, clothes packed into sacks and a television set.
The civil war that grew out of a 2011 uprising against Assad killed hundreds of thousands of people and drove millions abroad.
Turkey, which hosts three million Syrians, has extended the opening hours of the Cilvegozu border gate near the Syrian city of Aleppo seized by rebels at the end of November.
A second border gate was opened at nearby Yayladagi in Hatay on Tuesday.
Around 350-400 Syrians a day were already crossing back to rebel-held areas of Syria this year before the opposition rebellion began two weeks ago. The numbers have almost doubled since, Ankara says, anticipating a surge now Assad has gone.
Turkey has backed Syrian opposition forces for years but has said it had no involvement in the rebel offensive which succeeded at the weekend in unseating Assad after 13 years of civil war.
Around 100 trucks were waiting to cross the border, carrying goods including dozens of used cars. Security forces helped manage the flow of people, while aid groups offered snacks to children and tea and soup to adults.
‘OUR OWN PEOPLE’ ARE NOW IN CHARGE
Dua, mother of three children including a baby, is originally from Aleppo and has been living in Turkey for nine years. She worked in textile workshops and packaging in Bursa but is now returning to Syria due to her husband’s deportation.
“I’m going back for my husband. He didn’t have an ID and was deported when I was eight months pregnant. I can’t manage on my own, so I need to return,” she said.
“My husband hasn’t even met our baby yet. I was born and raised in Aleppo, and I will raise my children there too.”
Elsewhere Haya was waiting to enter Syria with her husband and three children. They have lived in a nearby container camp since devastating earthquakes in February 2023 killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria.
“We had good neighbours and good relations, but a container is not a home,” Haya said as she comforted her six-month-old baby and her daughter translated her comments from Arabic.
Syria’s new interim prime minister has said he aimed to bring back millions of Syrian refugees, protect all citizens and provide basic services but acknowledged it would be difficult because the country, long under sanctions, lacks foreign currency.
Mustafa voiced confidence in the new leadership after Assad was ousted by rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al Qaeda affiliate which has since downplayed its jihadist roots.
“Those who have taken power are no strangers. They didn’t come from the United States or Russia. They are our own people. We know them,” he said.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay, Mert Ozkan and Dilara Senkaya; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Philippa Fletcher)
